Explain the Topography of the City's Collective Memory (Case Study: Cities in Desert Regions)

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD student, Department of Urbanism, Faculty of Art and Architecture, Yazd University, Yazd , Iran

2 Associate professor, Department of Urbanism, Faculty of Art and Architecture, Yazd University, Yazd, Iran

3 Associate professor, Department of Geography and Urban Planning, Faculty of Geographical Sciences and Planning, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

10.22034/grd.2025.23466.1665

Abstract

Extended Abstract



1. Introduction

Collective memory in cities is more than a repository of past events; it is a living infrastructure that orients belonging, identity, and continuity. As urban environments densify and diversify, shared recollections are embedded in the physical weave of streets, squares, and buildings, and in the performative weave of rituals, commemorations, and everyday routines. This research argues that mapping the topography of collective memory—i.e., tracing how different carriers of memory are positioned, layered, and re-signified over time—provides a powerful lens for diagnosis and intervention.

Two research questions guide the work:

1. What are the constituent components of the topography of collective memory?

2. How do these components interact to shape and reproduce collective memory in desert cities?

Answering these questions matters practically. Accelerated redevelopment, gentrification, lifestyle shifts, and shocks (earthquakes, aridification) threaten the socio-spatial habitats of memory. In desert cities, where survival has historically depended on codified climate wisdom, losing memory risks eroding not only cultural identity but also adaptive capacity.



2. Research Methodology

The study uses a qualitative, interdisciplinary design with a multiple-case strategy and three integrated methods:

1. Systematic Review and Document Analysis: Following PRISMA protocols, we searched Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar using core terms (collective memory, city, place; Halbwachs, Nora, etc.). Snowballing captured foundational texts often under-indexed in databases. After deduplication and two-stage screening against inclusion criteria (urban spatial relevance; social frameworks of memory; interdisciplinary rigor; credible evidence; English-language availability), 123 sources (books and articles) were retained.

2. Thematic Synthesis: Using established procedures (open coding, descriptive themes, analytic themes), we coded the corpus to surface recurrent ideas about the relationship between memory, space, time, and power. The synthesis yielded a general conceptual model: a dual-frame structure where a spatial–material frame (carriers, loci, routes, palimpsests) interlocks with a socio–cultural frame (rituals, narratives, naming, institutions, media ecologies).

3. Analytical Generalization via Case Application: We applied the model to four desert cities in Iran—Yazd, Kerman, Tabas, Kashan—to examine how components operate in specific contexts. Cross-case comparison identified shared patterns (e.g., water-and-shade infrastructure as memory backbone) and divergences (e.g., post-disaster palimpsest in Tabas, tourism-mediated reframings in Yazd).





3. Results and discussion

The model reads urban memory through two interlocking frames: a spatial–material lens that treats the city as a layered text—where durable forms (linear bazaars, mosque–square ensembles, caravanserais, introverted courtyard houses, gardens, qanat networks, windcatchers) and route logics turn places into “semantic nodes”—and a socio-cultural lens that sees memory as an ongoing practice sustained by rituals, commemorations, market routines, and acts of naming and archiving. Together they produce a living, palimpsestic and political map whose nodes (places) and edges (flows) are continuously renegotiated as heritage policies, redevelopment, branding, and counter-memories amplify or mute layers. Five external drivers shape change: climate/environmental risk; migration and demographic churn; political economy and development; tourism; and technology/platforms that algorithmically filter remembrance. Desert-city cases illustrate the dynamics: in Yazd, climate-adaptive infrastructures and rituals (e.g., nakhl-gardani at Amir Chakhmaq) anchor a network intensified by World Heritage status; in Kerman, the longitudinal covered bazaar (e.g., Ganjali Khan) functions as an everyday memory corridor; in Tabas, the 1978 earthquake rewrote layers via hybrid earthen-skinned reconstruction; and in Kashan, introverted houses and Fin Garden stabilize intergenerational belonging through repeated hashti–corridor–courtyard sequences. Across cases, “water-and-shade” infrastructures and the bazaar–mosque–square triad undergird memory, while intensity and direction vary with risk, policy, tourism, and media. To operationalize: a participatory GIS “Memory Atlas,” Intensity/Direction indices, microclimate-sensitive “Memory Corridors,” and “Memory Institutions” (local councils/NGOs) to steward naming, archives, polyphonic narratives, and memory-impact review.

4. Conclusion

The paper advances a dual-frame, dynamic understanding of urban collective memory that spans material carriers and social practices, and demonstrates its value in desert cities where climate-wise infrastructures and ritualized life are tightly entwined. The model clarifies that memory is neither purely in the mind nor solely in monuments; it is situated, routinized, and negotiated within a moving network of places and practices. Applying the framework in Yazd, Kerman, Tabas, and Kashan reveals how enduring forms (qanats, windcatchers, bazaars, courtyards, gardens) operate as resilient anchors, while shocks, tourism, migration, and policy re-script the palimpsest.

For policy and design, the findings recommend: (1) strengthening formation pathways through intergenerational storytelling, participatory interpretation at memory nodes, and curricular embedding; (2) managing re-reading/re-writing by codifying naming practices, adopting design codes that layer rather than erase, and institutionalizing public dialogue before interventions; and (3) enhancing memory-based resilience with digital documentation, local archives, and co-produced reconstruction after shocks. The proposed Memory Atlas, indices, corridors, and institutions provide a concrete toolbox to align conservation, mobility, public space design, and climate adaptation with the lived circuits of remembrance. Future research can extend the indices with sensor data and ethnography, and test transferability beyond desert contexts.

Keywords

Main Subjects

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The Journal of Geographical Research on Desert Areas
Volume 13, Issue 1
August 2025
Pages 105-122

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