«Urban Memory»: Concepts for Shaping Public Perceptions of Urban Spaces through History, Symbols, Places, and Myths
Keywords:
urban memory, historical memory, cultural memory, symbolization of urban space, memorial issues of the cityAbstract
This article presents a conceptual analysis of various methodological approaches in the natural and human sciences as applied to urban memory research, as well as some questions about the mechanisms of symbolizing urban space and possible configurations of the «person-city-historical (cultural) memory» relationships. Specifically, it examines some fundamentals of the concept of cultural landscape, the environmental approach of urban studies, Yury Lotman's semiotics, and other Russian and international cultural and historical theories. Based on an analysis of these fundamentals in the context of urban memory, this article suggests the existence of a kind of an ontological triangle, at the «corners» of which such categories as man, urban space, and historical and cultural heritage are fixed.
