Urban memory. Palimpsests, traces and patterns in Metropolitan Lima

Abstract

The Peruvian capital Lima has possibly a more conflictive relation with its own memory than other cities might do. It cultivates its colonial legacy without being capable of overcoming an enduring colonialism in its social structures and of establishing organs that would be capable of protecting this heritage. At the same time, it has turned its back completely to its pre-Hispanic heritage, without realizing its highest potential of integration and of urbanistic and cultural value for the urban landscape and without assuming a responsibility by protecting it for the humanity. The text introduces the concept of public space as a palimpsest of collective memories and analyses and proposes different initiatives to recreate urban memory and to find forms for its visualization and reactivation. In times of a real estate boom and an accelerated and also profound consolidation of the informal city, it turns out to be each time more important to trace and investigate urban memory and find urbanistic, artistic and civic ways to formulate its traces in urban realm. Spaces of memory are crucial for the creation of urban identity and the construction of citizenship.