Advocacy and Endangered Lists
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By Liz Waytkus and Francine Moralles
Endangered historic site lists, as a tool for advocacy, are being announced and promoted by many preservation organizations and architectural advocacy groups across the country. As these lists seem to proliferate, it’s interesting to step back and look at their genesis, the inclusion (or perhaps exclusion) of modern sites as a subset, the limits to modern site inclusion (mostly iconic by star architects), and endangered lists overall effectiveness.
In early August, roughly thirty Americans joined our Docomomo colleagues in Finland for the 12th annual Docomomo International Conference entitled The Survival of Modern, From Coffee Cup to General Plan. The week-long event took place in Tapiola, the lush garden city neighborhood of Espoo, and included a number of evening receptions in Helsinki and more in-depth Doco Tours throughout the area. With delightful temperatures in the low 70s and long days where the sun hovered at the horizon during the evenings, Docomomo US members were treated to stimulating discussions of the challenges facing architecture and conservation professionals across the globe.
When Minoru Yamasaki was selected for the design of the twin towers of the World Trade Center, the New York Times noted: “Mr. Yamasaki is considered one of the country’s foremost architects”. As if to confirm that statement, four months later on January 18, 1963, he was on the front cover of 
