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Ancient city walls are typical linear space elements of Beijing that represent the transformation of urban form over the past 800 years and have greatly influenced the memory of the entire city. However, recently, most of the walls have been torn down in the process of fast urbanization and old city renewal. The purpose of this paper is to focus on people’s cognition and evaluation of urban memory during this pull-down-and-preserve process.

A sample of 380 participants was investigated on a number of issues using questionnaires, including memory case reminders (stability, variability, temporality), emotional bonding with memory case (identity, dependence, authenticity), and socio-demographic variables (age, education, life experience, length of residence). The urban memory cognition model and attitude evaluation value model which were based on Likert scale were used to process the collected data.

In the three aspects of memory case reminders, stability and temporary elements can be most cognized, whereas variability elements are more difficult due to their change over time. As for emotional bonding with memory case, people show a high level of identification with the walls; the walls’ memory being passed down could enhance people’s memory when mentioning Beijing. Further, higher education groups consider the walls’ authenticity to be most important and are unwilling to accept the outcome of walls-ruins parks; older adults have tolerant attitudes to the ruins parks.

This study could not only contribute to the excavation of urban memory, but also strengthen citizens’ sense of identity and cohesiveness, thus shaping the spirit and culture of the city. Some findings could provide applicable guidelines for urban heritage protection and contribute a new perspective on the interrelationship between people and their physical surroundings.

The relationship between collective memory and the built environment is a complex relationship. Though the concept of memory is fragile, the maintenance and continuation of urban memory are essential to maintain groups' identities and to support the sense of place and place attachment between community members and the architectural settings they use and/or reside in. Preserving the physical aspects of buildings, spaces and settings that are linked with memory, is important to preserve the memory, however, the mere preservation does not guarantee the continuation of memory. The maintenance and continuation of memory is a process that depends on several factors, where the preservation of the physical aspects is only one among several. This paper aims at a better understanding of the intricate relationship between collective memory and the built environment, focusing on the processes of formation, stimulation and consolidation of memory. The paper sheds the lights on historic houses that are embedded with significant meanings and memories to their social contexts. It claims that historic houses can easily shift from ‘potential cultural memory' to ‘actual cultural memory' that could act as pillars of memory to their surrounding community, if the conservation process is done comprehensively, that is to include not only the physical and spatial aspects of memory but also to tackle the social dimensions of memory as well. The paper is organized into three sections: the first investigates the memory formation process, focusing on the social and the spatial dimension of memory, then the second investigates the possible channels to memory stimulation and consolidation, and finally, as a case study, the third section investigates the memory of two historic houses in Cairo, Egypt. The review of the works undertaken in the two houses highlights the difference and the distance between the concept of restoration and the essence of conservation. Findings yielded that, urban memory is an important aspect of cultural heritage that should to be captured and preserved for current and future generations, an aspect that is missing in local conservation approaches. Moreover, to be maintained, urban memory needs physical, social and moral props.

This paper critically analyses the urban memory and heritage interpretation of postcolonial Harbin, a city in China that was founded by the Russians in 1898. It investigates the role and making of Russian colonial heritage in contemporary Harbin with a detailed case study of the Harbin Railway Station

Research methods include archival analysis, observation and semi-structured interview. In-depth interviews were conducted with local people, architect/urban planners and officials.

Local people of different generations with different backgrounds have different interpretations of the recently made colonial heritage of the Harbin Railway Station. The urban memory of Harbin has been consistently re-forming with both nostalgia and amnesia. Younger generations tend to regard the colonial heritage as their own heritage and a symbol of Harbin's cultural character without considering much about its related colonial history. In today's Harbin, colonial heritage as the “colonial past presencing” is more about a feel of the Europeanised space rather than the actual historical events of the period, and colonial heritage making becomes a tool for urban development and revitalisation at the institutional level. However, due to the paradigm shift in China's urban development, Harbin is facing new challenges in dealing with its colonial heritage.

Harbin is an under-researched case in terms of urban heritage studies. This paper offers a new entry point for understanding the westernisation and colonial heritage making in the contemporary China more deeply and thoroughly and helps to see the trend of China's urban development more clearly.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the “event” of the construction of Naguib Mahfouz Square. Drawing on the memory of Gamaet-Aldowel-AlArabyia Street, it attempts to uncover the socio-cultural structures inherited in the Egyptian urban street.

This study adopts Foucauldian discourse on institutions of “knowledge and authority” to approach the power relations between the actors involved. This discourse was constructed through in-depth, unstructured interviews with architects and involved government personnel as well as other archival resources that included national newspapers and magazines.

This discourse reflected an institutional controversy between these actors over the perception and design of the Egyptian street, highlighting the alienation of the designer, and the user/lay-people, from the urban institution. Naguib Mahfouz Square presented a considerable deviation from the established norms of street design in Egypt at that time through its commemoration of a contemporary figure in literature, the architect’s involvement in the design process and the unfencing of urban space. This event thus questions the perception of the urban street beyond our socio-cultural inheritance, and towards street design as a performative urban act that embraces the everyday activities of lay-people in the street.

The paper utilises Foucauldian discourse on power to approach a case study of an urban event and space in Egypt, which has not previously been investigated thoroughly. It thus holds potential towards the resolution of inherited conflict between the urban street and the urban institution.

Resilience has recently attracted widespread interest in the field of urban planning and theory. However, the research that has been conducted on urban resilience in Africa has major theoretical and methodological gaps. This can lead to problems when designing and implementing resilience strategies there. Understanding African perspectives can be a way of tackling these. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Using the example of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, this paper analyses expert interviews based on a grounded theory approach. The goal is to explore locally specific perceptions of and pathways to urban resilience. By comparing these findings to those reported in the existing literature, differences and overlaps are identified.

This study provides evidence for the existence of locally specific perceptions of and pathways to urban resilience. Furthermore, it identifies urban development pathways such as complete urban makeover (tabula rasa) and complete negation of change (resistance).

Because this study uses Addis Ababa as a singular case and expert interviews as method, it rather represents an initial attempt at exploring a new research field than claiming generalisability. Its quality and significance lie in its discursive approach and theory formation.

This exemplary study from Ethiopia demonstrates that a regionally specific understanding of urban resilience is valuable for the design and implementation of urban resilience strategies.

This study offers unique insights into urban resilience from an African perspective and into the manifestation of urban resilience in Addis Ababa.

The purpose of this study is to develop a conceptual framework for defining the notion of “physical integration” regarding the Iranian bazaar as the main component in the structure of traditional Iranian cities. Applying this conceptual framework to the historical bazaars in the cities of Kerman and Shiraz, this study seeks to pave the way for restoring the physical integrity of such historical districts.

The research was conducted in two phases. First, there was a review of the theoretical background of physical integration followed by the analysis of the corresponding qualitative contents and the validation of the proposed conceptual framework as confirmed by 15 local experts. The second phase tested the validated framework in two case studies based on maps, historical documents and field observations.

The findings show that the physical integration of historical bazaars can be undertaken in morphological, visual-aesthetic and functional aspects. The proposed conceptual framework is capable of dealing with the different aspects of physical integration in historical districts on a meso-scale.

The theoretical implications of this study concerning the physical integration of traditional bazaars address urban design, urban planning and multi-disciplinary historical geography. The study also has practical implications for the integration of bazaars in historical urban regeneration projects via design guidelines.

This study emphasizes the importance of physical integration as a multi-dimensional concept, facilitating it to deal with the physical quality and the characteristics of historical districts, particularly bazaars. It also highlights the role of the Iranian bazaar as a unifying structure in the historical districts.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the possibility that design research involving a series of actions is an appropriate approach to memory place-making. It tries to explore how memory expressed in public space and how memory place becomes an agency system and re-organize fragments of memory in practice specifically.

Taking the memory project of Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge (NYRB) as an example of design research and re-establishing new cognitions of contemporary memory place-making through the elaboration and analysis of the design process of a series of teaching, exhibition and public participatory activities.

Design research is oriented towards multi-discipline campaigns of agency and actions and acts as thinking patterns and integration mechanisms, so that the memory place-making can be incorporated into the scope of planning and design. This paper suggests that contemporary memory place-making should pay more attention to the spiritual experience of individual participation and the identity relations behind these emotional memories. On one hand, social bonds are established between people and have involved more public participation. On the other hand, multiple resources are integrated through a series of practical activities and design research, and the memory place becomes a catalyst for individual memory, emotions and communication thus redefining memory place-making.

NYRB is a controversial mid-20th century national monument. In the social context of contemporary China, design research has helped to redefine and shape this national icon into a contemporary memory place where people can share memories of the bridge.

It is project-based in the sense of adding the dimension of memory to the practice of place-making through design research.

This paper examines the position of planning practices operated under precise guidelines for displaying modernity. Cultivating the spatial qualities of Cairo since the 1970s has unveiled centralised ideologies and systems of governance and economic incentives. I present a discussion of the wounds that result from the inadequate upgrading ventures in Cairo, which I argue, created scars as enduring evidence of unattainable planning methods and processes that undermined its locales. In this process, the paper focuses on the consequences of eviction rather than the planning methods in one of the city’s traditional districts. Empirical work is based on interdisciplinary research, public media reports and archival maps that document actions and procedures put in place to alter the visual, urban, and demographic characteristics of Cairo’s older neighbourhoods against a backdrop of decay to shift towards a global spectacular. The paper builds a conversation about the power and fate these spaces were subject to during hostile transformations that ended with their being disused. Their existence became associated with sores on the souls of its ex-inhabitants, as outward signs of inward scars showcasing a lack of equality and social justice in a context where it was much needed.

This paper explores tools and methodologies associated with the recovery of industrial areas from a territorial and urban perspective.

This study describes the theoretical foundations of a specific industrial reality, using the city of Valdivia as a case study. Intermediate cities are resilient urban areas that support the changes derived from deindustrialization. Here, we present the contextualization of a contemporary recovery tool in Valdivia. First, industrial and geographical antecedents are described. Then, essential aspects of memory, territory and society are defined. Finally, challenges and opportunities derived from the contextual approach of the proposed recovery model are discussed.

Three thematic lines were used to design the proposed heritage recovery model: memory, territory and society. The recovery of industrial memory, a programmatic reconstruction that includes a contemporary and environmentally sensitive utilization of the territory, and the restoration of the lost connection between the city and the territory, proved to be essential in this task.

This proactive research allowed an in-depth analysis of the addressed topic and the exhaustive design of a tool for heritage recovery, following the provisions of the regional legislation. However, the authors acknowledge that the contextualization of the contextualization of the project actual project may limit the project execution.

This paper explores the development of a new tool for the evaluation, intervention, and preservation of the industrial heritage of intermediate cities, as an alternative to the traditional methods of intervention.

This paper aims to analyse the place marketing potential of historic urban “fragments”, with particular reference to old corporate identity symbols still extant in urban space.

Following a discussion of theoretical context, specifically incorporating spatial semiotics and psychogeography, the paper constitutes an interpretive account of a “tour” around the city of Manchester, UK, apprehending and discussing various historic corporate identity fragments still visible in the city.

Historic corporate identity fragments are identified and outlined, and issues arising from their continued existence, in terms of, for example, what constitutes heritage, and how this heritage can be used for the creation of urban distinctiveness (or genius loci) for the purposes of place marketing/branding are discussed.

The potential of heritage to be incorporated into the “representation work” of those responsible for urban management/marketing is highlighted, along with the need for such heritage fragments to be “curated”, if their full potential in this regard is to be realised.