Memorials as Spaces of Engagement

Abstract

In recent decades there has been a dramatic increase in the number and diversity of public memorials built in Europe, the U.S. and around the world. Innovations in design and new ideas about appropriate subjects for commemoration have jointly reinvigorated commemorative practices in urban public space. In Spaces of Engagement, authors Karen Franck and Quentin Stevens combine detailed first-hand analysis of key projects with a thorough review of existing scholarship to forge a comprehensive thematic treatment of contemporary memorials. Spaces of Engagement is organized around three themes: The physical design of memorial settings How visitors experience and understand memorials Managing the tensions between memorials and urban space It examines both official, formally designed memorials and informal memorials, those collectively created by members of the public immediately after tragic events. The book provides detailed descriptions, illustrations and analyses of several key contemporary examples including Washington's Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Berlin's Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin, the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain in London, and informal memorials created after the September 11 attacks in New York and the 2005 London bombings, and others. While the specific subject of the book is physical interventions in urban space for the purpose of commemoration, the issues and insights presented also enrich an understanding of the design and use of urban public space, demonstrate the continuing liveliness of public space and make the argument for the value, and the difficulties, of public spaces that are open to diverse and potentially conflicting activities and meanings.