IN-PERSON: Livable Cities – New York

Abstract

There have been many scholars who have work on the life of cities through the material aspects such as economy, environment, politics. In this regard there is deep gaps on the studies on some aspects such as memory, culture, heritage, and sense of place. From the heritage point of view, the vibrant and dynamic place can be where the historical experiences and cultural accumulations could find purpose to be expressed, where the sense of place is born out of citizens’ interaction with urban spaces. In this regard, heritage appears to be a potential contribution to creating a shared local identity that can connect people, place, and history. Heritage describes a part of a place’s history and are evidence of the cultural, social, and economic developments, and interpret and document values for the place’s heritage. So, conserving heritage could be a new horizon in local growth by creating readability, a sense of belonging, and a sense of place, establishing the connection of people with the place through past projects. Eradicating the cultural heritage of a place and changes in identity and culture, which in itself results from the destruction of collective memories and sense of place, could lead to disorder in the social structure and rupture the relationship between people and their place and finally death and darkness of a place.