_ Space Memory Identity _

space 1. a continuous area or expanse which is free, available, or unoccupied 2. the dimensions of height, depth, and width within which all things exist and move. memory 1. the faculty by which the mind stores and remembers information. 2. something remembered from the past identity 1. the fact of being who or what a person or thing is. 2. a close similarity or affinity

Can the study of a single street capture the place-making and identity formation of the population of an entire city?

A space surrounded by anonymous houses and populated by people are sites of memories and identities. The empty spaces, the no-man's land, are the true spaces of memory - a vanishing memory. Memory creates the site. There are different ways of keeping memory, of building memory, of losing memory. To build up a (new) identity, you not only have to remember, but also to forget. Urban experiences are diverse and dynamic, changing often with advances in technology, shifts in capital investment, and migrations of people. They are shaped by power and wealth, as well as ingenuity and labor. Urbanity is layered with cultural and social histories, and the demands of day-to-day living. Getting from place to place puts a city dweller in contact with a stimulating variety of people and material conditions. At the same time, these experiences can be exhausting and tend to render the urbanite anonymous within the crowd. Like the boundary between public and private spaces, urban experience is not fixed. The intensity of urban encounter may magnify our sense of these spaces, or cause us to miss them altogether. Cities are malleable, pliable, and constantly changing, and as such the experience we have of urban spaces is always a negotiation between various powers and influences.