Cultural Memory and User Experience in Redeveloped Urban Public Spaces

Abstract

The redevelopment of urban public space has become a significant approach to city renewal in the context of accelerating urbanization like in India. Redesigning of riverfronts, heritage streets, plazas and waterfront promenades are becoming more popular to improve aesthetic, tourism and image of a global city. Although this kind of interventions usually leads to success in the physical change, the effect it has on the cultural memory and on the user experience in their daily life has not been adequately studied. The paper explores how the process of redevelopment redefines the relationship between space, memory as well as users especially long-term local communities whose practices and identities are implicated in these spaces. The study, based on the cultural memory theory, place attachment theory and the experiential urbanism theory, conceptualizes the user experience as a dynamic interaction between the physical form, social practices, and recalled meanings. The study based on qualitative research techniques of ethnographic observation, walk-along interviews, and narrative mapping demonstrates that redevelopment often creates a disconnection between the formulated images of heritage and the experienced cultural memory. New public spaces can, although less frequently, improve visual control and access, however, they tend to exclude informal practices, dislodge regular users and dilute informal cultural values. The article proposes the idea of a user-focused and memory-aware city redevelopment based on continuity, daily routine, and participatory design as the key to maintaining the authentic public life.