Preserving Culture and Place

Coral Gables Museum will host a special edition of its Link + Learn series focused on cultural preservation, development, and the future of Miami’s historic neighborhoods.

Organized with the Allapattah Collaborative CDC, the panel will examine how communities can accommodate growth and investment while preserving the people, businesses, traditions, and cultural identities that shaped them. The discussion will also address rising rents, displacement, historic preservation, and the role of immigrant and diaspora communities in Miami.

The event is connected to the museum’s “Many Voices,” “One Nation: En Nuestras Palabras” exhibition, developed through a collaboration involving the Smithsonian Institution, Florida Humanities, and Allapattah Collaborative CDC.

Doors open at 5:30 pm with bar service and light bites. The moderated panel begins at 6 pm, followed by an audience Q&A at 7:45 pm.

Panelists include Megan McLaughlin, Director of Preservation Projects at Plusurbia; Rodolfo Pou, Chairman of the Diaspora and Development Foundation; and architectural photographer Steven Brooke. Fernando Ortiz of Allapattah Collaborative CDC will moderate the discussion.

Topics will include what it means to preserve a neighborhood beyond its buildings, how development can remain affordable for existing residents, the role of residents and cultural organizations in shaping communities, and the future of neighborhoods such as Little Santo Domingo.