The role of memory in the context of changing urban fabric

Abstract

This study is exploring the relationship between collective memory and the physical urban fabric and the possibility that collective memory could be an instigator for Urban Conservation. It focuses on the typologies of memory, how memory may be kept alive through its connection with place and how the loss of both collective memory and/or the urban fabric may induce forgetting within the community leading to collective amnesia. These theories are being discussed throughout this dissertation whilst taking into consideration St Julian’s, as a case study. This locality has seen a considerable amount of changes throughout the decades. The study makes use of feedback from local individuals about their memories, cultural events and their overall relation to the urban fabric of their locality, such as to determine the effectiveness of collective memory within the locality. This, with the intention to then deduct information which will lead to answer whether collective memory could be a vehicle for urban conservation. The study concludes that collective memory can indeed act as an agent of urban conservation. However, this depends heavily on the community, their place attachment and association of place to their personal identity as well as a good historical background of the locality. With these factors supporting collective memory, a community relying on collective memory will manage to enforce more appropriate changes to the urban fabric.