VIRTUAL Barcelona

Abstract

This article discusses various aspects of the term ‘nostalgia.’ Rather than an individual plight, it will be considered here as a symptom of contemporary society. The discussion will take place as a part of sustainable conservation and will offer a contemporary perspective on sustainable architecture and urbanism in areas related to the environmental, social, and cultural aspects of architectural and urban sustainability. Nostalgia characterizes humans’ connections to the past, and to their sense of self, home, and community. we reflect on how this affects our longing for home, how we envision our collective home, and how we place ourselves in the world. I distinguish three types of nostalgia: Restorative, longing for the restoration of a lost home; Utopian, transforming our longing into a utopian ideal; and Reflective, which differs by shifting the focus from recovering what is perceived as a loss of absolute truth to pondering questions of history and the passing of time. The article focuses on nostalgia’s bearing on architecture, as demonstrated for example in the work of Architect Aldo Rossi and others. An oeuvre, in which the contemplation of time and memory are inherent, reveals all three forms of nostalgia, highlighting and questioning their centrality to architectural thought and practice.