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Help with Thesis: Memory and Urbanism

NSG.

I was wondering if anyone would be willing to give me some feedback. I am currently doing a 12 month Masters in Architecture. I am basing my thesis on Memory, how cities were arranged in influenced by Mnemonic and the Art of memory.

I tried to apply this to contemporary cities by finding ways I could measure a cities "memorability" by reading texts and deducting determining factors (landmarks, scale etc) however I came to a dead-end when I realized (it was suggested to me by my tutors)  that this is all very subjective and cannot be quantitively analyzed.

I am not really interested in "collective memory" of a city also as it is not what I set out to study. 

I have now decided to look at the transition of Memory as Analogue in cities to Memory as Digital (digital networks, gps, online libraries etc.) And thought of looking at Depfort in London as a case study. (they had a free wifi project going on)

But I am unsure how to progress and I am probably having a mental block. I was looking for some feedback as to whether this topic is overdone/cliched or hard to actually investigate and produce reliable data for. Or any comments or ideas that would point me in the right (or a) direction. 

I really appreciate any feedback you might have!

 

Thanks.

 
May 6, 12 3:33 pm
royc

Kevin Lynch's The Image of the City is a classic text that does something extremely similar to what you're talking about, and in a scientific manner. 

The field of environmental psychology in general also deals with similar questions; it might be where you end up looking. Wayfinding might be a particular sub-focus that's helpful, in that it deals with perception and memory. Romedi Passini's work might be particularly helpful.


Not sure if these are exactly what you're looking for, but in terms of finding scientific ways to examine psychological responses to urban environments, it's where you'd want to start.


Also, what exactly do you mean by "collective memory"?

May 6, 12 6:01 pm  · 
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