University of Kentucky Assistant Professor of Historic Preservation Doug Appler is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant for his project “Reassessing the History of Urban Renewal in the United States, 1950–1975.” The grants include the first awards made under NEH’s new Infrastructure and Capacity-Building Challenge Grant program, which will support infrastructure projects at 29 U.S. cultural institutions in 20 states and the District of Columbia.

The collaborative research grant for $42,000 will allow Appler to continue to develop urban renewal scholarship that explores geographies other than that of the stand-alone project in major central cities.

Appler’s research at UK College of Design’s Department of Historic Preservation emphasizes the connections between historic preservation and allied fields, including archaeology, affordable housing and economic development. He regularly presents his work at urban planning and preservation-oriented conferences, including those organized by the Society for American City and Regional Planning History, the Urban Affairs Association, the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning and the Society for Historical Archaeology.

Appler is a former practicing city planner, a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) and was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala from 2000-02. He holds a doctoral degree in city and regional planning from Cornell University, a master’s degree in urban and regional planning from Virginia Tech, and bachelor’s degrees in history and political science from Virginia Tech.

For more information on Appler’s NEH grant and other grants awarded at this time, visit: www.neh.gov/files/press-release/neh_grants_august_2018_final.pdf.