MEMORY

TOPICS COVERED IN THE PRESENTATION- SUBMITTED BY-

MEMORY- MY UNDERSTANDING
SYED IFRAH
MEMORY
MY UNDERSTANDING- UNDERSTANDING THE MEMORY OF A CITY, ITS
IMPORTANCE AND MANIFESTATION

CITY
GOVERNME
Memory of a city is the image, one having attributes of sense and vision that is NT
associated with the city and enables its citizens to identify and connect with its
past and present, its subsequent evolution and change as political and socio-
cultural entities. Every city embodies its collective memory of the past and to
understand the shaping of cities, it is essential to understand the role of CITY SPACES
collective memory of a city. Memory of a city which is embedded in the lines and MEMORY OF
character of the city is the collection of tangible and non tangible driving forces
A CITY IS
which determine the creation and usage of urban spaces and city cultures over
stretches of time. In addition to ecology, political-economics, and cultural NEIGHBOURHOO REFLECTED
DS IN
industries (factors emphasised upon as city shaping determinants), the cities are
shaped by collective identities, shared memories, group cultures and local
histories. It is therefore essential to understand how collective memory works
in conjecture with political economy, cultural and human ecology to form CULTURES
communities and cities. The memory of a city is reflected in the city
governments, neighbourhoods, city spaces and cultures.
But there arises an important question. Do we overlook critical role of memory in
shaping cities? And also what is the degree of transparency in which history is
told and retained in our cities. For example, looking at Delhi and the Lutyens
Delhi especially which most of us instantly associate Delhi with is actually the OUR ROLE AS URBAN DESIGNERS
memory of power and control over the territory, something and someplace
which feels imposed upon us. And is this the way how the memory should be
foretold of the city. And what should be engraved as the collective memory of
EXPLORATION PRESERVATION COMMUNICATION
the city and in what way. The answer perhaps lies in : who tells the history and
how it is retained in the city. Most of the times, it is the ruling class or the power
class who gets to tell the history and engrave it into the city as a collective
memory. And often the stories that are told and the memories that are retained
are falsified stories of winning and triumph of the ruling class over the common
masses.

THEORIES OF URBAN DESIGN | SEM 2, 2019

MEMORY

Therefore what needs to be done is finding a way for activation of the right memory for constructing the identity of the city and
nurturing its authenticity. Also incorporating preservation and revival of memory in our urban planning, reconstruction and
revitalisation of public spaces and cultural heritage. By this approach we can form the identity of the city, archive and revitalize our
tangible heritage. We should also realise that correctly examining the past is a necessary condition for quality development of a
community. As urban designers we can play an important role in exploration of the past, its preservation in the city spaces and
the way we communicate the correct memory to the masses.

We can contribute towards imbibing the memory within the urban spaces and the city, thereby strengthening the feeling of
belongingness to the local community and incite public participation in the development of the city. And to achieve this we can
have endless ways and manners to do that. Through architecture, creation and preservation of third places, through installations
in public spaces, public art done by the citizens themselves, associating memories with spaces, stitching the old and new fabrics
to heal urban realms, memorial and symbols, we can successfully imbibe and preserve the memory in the city and achieve a
cohesive and successful community. We can create better places where people feel attached to the space and identify the past
and present, the changes, evolution and ultimately achieve a better community

READINGS REFFERED :
Memory : Urban Design Thinking
Memory of the city : Dušica Dražić, Slavica Radišić and Marijana Simu
Urban memory- history and amnesia in the modern city : Mark Crimson
"Urban Spaces, City Cultures, and Collective Memories." Pp. 193-204 in the Routledge International Handbook of Memory
Studies, eds. Anna Lisa Tota and Trever Hagen. New York: Routledge.

REASON FOR CHOSING THESE RESEARCHES :

All of these papers provide a good insight about the understanding of the memory of a city, its importance in cities and public
spaces. Also the papers have raised interesting questions about how and what kind of memory gets manifested in the city.
Also how can we as urban designers approach towards corporating the memory, the correct memory in our public spaces and
cities.

THEORIES OF URBAN DESIGN | SEM 2, 2019