Amnesia, Nostalgia, and the Politics of Place Memory

Abstract

This article examines two seemingly opposed modes of place-making, urban sprawl and historic preservation, and their relationship to memory. The author contends that urban sprawl creates a landscape of either willful or accidental amnesia, where the powers of place are neutralized by ignoring them or removing them from history. Historic preservation, however, can have equally depoliticizing effects by conjuring up peculiar, selective, or even wholly imaginary pasts. Despite their apparent opposition, both practices often work against a meaningful understanding of the relationship between identity, memory, and place. Rather than accept the false choice between amnesia and nostalgia, the author advocates for an ethos of what Walter Benjamin calls “porosity” in creating, maintaining, and evaluating the vitality of our urban spaces.