This thesis constitutes a synthesis of the course work and research that I pursued as an MS.AAD student at Cornell University.Personally, it’s difficult to think of a topic more interesting than the one of time. If the spatially new is hidden in the present, how exactly can the history of a place shape and impact its future? To approach this question, I have chosen nine case studies that include design projects and works from elective course were chosen. Through the lens of history, this thesis attempts to focus on the process of retracing the past as a way of reinventing the future. Carrying a comprehensive understanding and respect of the past will inspire and assist a city or a neighborhood in articulating what it stood for, what it believed in, what it aspired to be, increasing the possibility of creating and sustaining places with positive economic, civic, cultural and environmental conditions.