Urban Memory in City Transitions: The Significance of Place in Mind

This book explores the arguments around the memory-experience-cognition nexus concerning palimpsests and urban places, urging considering urban memory in place-making strategies and design decision-making processes. It discusses conceptions of mental mapping, knowledge of environments, cognition of places, and the perceptual dimension of urbanism. The author debates two contradictions of 'memory of place vs. place of memory' and 'significance of place vs. place of significance' and aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of the space-time frame of place in making memorable places.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 310 pages
Publication date: 03 April 2022
Publisher: Springer Verlag, Singapore

This book delves into the intricate arguments surrounding the memory-experience-cognition nexus in relation to palimpsests and urban places. As cities navigate through transformative phases of growth, development, decline, and decay, the author emphasizes the importance of incorporating urban memory into place-making strategies and design decision-making processes. These explorations hold significant value in various primary fields, including architecture, architectural history, cognitive science, human geography, and urbanism.

Organized into eight chapters, this book offers a comprehensive understanding of urban memory within city transitions. By examining urban memory, the author delves into conceptions of mental mapping, knowledge of environments, cognition of places, and the perceptual dimension of urbanism. Undoubtedly, urban memory plays a pivotal role in shaping the future movements of humanistic urbanism. Given the global significance of scale, pace, and modes of city transitions, it is crucial to acknowledge the ultimate users of these living environments.

Thus, this book engages in a debate between two paradoxes: "memory of place vs. place of memory" and "significance of place vs. place of significance." Each of these paradoxes highlights the unique ways in which places acquire significance through the interconnected networks of cities, the meaningfulness of memories through neural information processing, and the essence of urban identities found in place memories.

The ultimate objective of this book is to demonstrate the effectiveness of the space-time frame of place in creating memorable places. Through extensive explorations of numerous global examples, readers can carefully evaluate the significance of place in their minds. This narrative is structured based on the recognition of nostalgia in cities and the socio-temporal dynamics that shape our experiences and memories.

Weight: 504g
Dimension: 235 x 155 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9789811610059
Edition number: 1st ed. 2021