This paper explores current preservation planning practice and how traditional methods of research and survey have underserved Asian and Pacific Islander American communities in preserving both their cultural and historic resources. This paper also provides recommendations to current preservation planning practice to better serve these communities which include addressing the disparity between preservation and urban planning processes and incorporating and changing the way historic context studies and surveys are conducted and applied. Washington D.C.’s Chinatown was utilized as a case study example to critically analyze how the separation of preservation and planning processes affects the preservation and health of D.C.’s Chinatown.