The Historical Memory Law and its role in redesigning semiotic cityscapes in Spain

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 247-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yael Guilat ◽  
Antonio B. Espinosa-Ramírez

In its Historical Memory Law (October 2007), Spain recognized victims on both sides of its 1936–1939 Civil War and established entitlements for victims and descendants of victims of the war and the Franco regime that followed (1939–1975). The law requires authorities to remove Francoist symbols and signs from public buildings and spaces, rename streets and squares, and cleanse the public space of monuments and artifacts that glorify or commemorate the regime. By allowing exceptions on artistic, architectural, or religious grounds, however, the law triggered persistent public struggles over monuments, memorials, and outdoor sculptures. This article examines the implementation of the law in the city of Granada, via a case study relating to the removal of a sculpture honoring the founder of the Spanish Fascist movement, José Antonio Primo de Rivera. The controversy over the statue sparked a debate in Granada about the implementation of the law in the public space and raised questions about the role of text, material and visual culture in redesigning Linguistic Landscape by articulating contested memories.

Author(s):  
Veronica West-Harling

This chapter shows the exercising of power in action in the public space. It looks at who ‘owns’ this, the Christianization of it in Rome, and the increasing role of the papacy in appropriating and in running it, revalorizing it as part of Rome’s Christian past and present, expressed through pilgrimage. This appropriation is contested by the secular aristocracy, which in turn appropriates the public space and rewrites the topography of the city in the tenth century. The use of the public space as an area of either social cohesion or conflict is studied, through the ceremonies, elections, oaths, processions, assemblies, justice and defence meetings; but also riots, conspiracies, and contested elections. This space of cohesion or conflict is fundamental to the creation of the unity and sense of identity of the city, especially around the patron saint or, sometimes, around or indeed against an imperial ruler


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 101-106
Author(s):  
Shkumbin Munishi Prishtina

Abstract Language relations as manifestations of the phenomenon of multilingualism are also expressed in the area of the so-called linguistic landscape. Undoubtedly, the linguistic landscape not only reflects the use of languages in public space but at the same time reveals the depth of public perception of different languages, depending on their function and prestige. In this paper, I will treat Albanian, English and Serbian rapports through their coverage in the Pristina linguistic landscape, focusing on the use of these languages in advertising space in the city of Prishtina and in other tables that perform semiotic functions of indexes in this city. Likewise, within the reflection of the status planning of languages in Prishtina linguistic landscape, the use of Serbian in the official tables will be treated. This case study will also reflect the features of language policy and the impact of the globalization phenomenon in different languages. The results presented in this paper will reflect on the field research within a certain time span. The research has shown that in the Pristina linguistic landscape, in addition to the Albanian language, English has a dense use, while the use of Serbian is mostly limited to official charts i.e. names of the streets of the city and is not found in private advertisements tables.


2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Gustavo Arteaga ◽  
Edier Segura ◽  
Diego Escobar

In the last decades, the occupation of the pedestrian routes and in general of the public space in the city center of Cali Colombia, have been evidencing diverse phenomena, which to a great extent respond to the accelerated growth of the urban population, where the migrations that have occurred in the interior of the country (fruit of the social conflicts of the last decades), have particularly marked the realities. In Cali, on 10th and 15th streets, near the Government Building, the Palace of Justice and the Municipal Administrative Center - CAM, the public space in general terms has been stressed in a particular way, which has generated conflicts in the surfaces designed for the pedestrians, since they are occupied by vendors in the midst of the informality routines, forcing the pedestrian to use the automobile tracks being a notorious and interesting phenomenon, when observing the factors that produce it and using them as parameters in the design of architectural spaces that contribute to improvement.


Via Latgalica ◽  
2016 ◽  
pp. 40
Author(s):  
Solvita Pošeiko

<p><em>The theme described in the title is connected with public advertising texts from two informational sources: newspapers printed in Daugavpils („Daugavas Vēstnesis” ‘The Daugava Herald’, „Daugavas Vārds” ‘The Daugava’s Word’, „Latgales Ziņas” ‘Latgalian News’ and „</em><em>Latgales Vēstnesis”</em><em> ‘The Latgale Herald”) and the linguistic landscape of the city, which characterizes the public information space. Commercial discourse is essential to this space, as a large part of public texts have the representation and promotion of establishments, companies and societies as a primary goal, in addition to the exhibition of offered goods and services.</em></p><p><em>The aim of the article is to define and characterize from the perspective of linguistic landscape the tools and techniques used to represent businesses and establishments in Latvian print advertisements in the 1920s and 30s. In fulfillment of this goal, content analysis and the diachronic linguistic landscape approach has been used for data analysis and interpretation (Backhaus 2005, Pavlenko 2010, Pavlenko, Mullen 2015, Pošeiko 2015). For summarization of obtained results, the descriptive method has been used.</em></p><p><em>Latvia is characterized in the interwar period by a unified language policy – including policies with mechanisms for the management of specific languages – highlighting the role of the Latvian language as the state language in the organization of public life and in nationalist ideology, and facilitating its use in all sociolinguistic functions. However, the interwar period in Latvia also marks the beginning of a period of Westernization – especially in the economic and cultural spheres – detectible in cinema, theater and concert posters; print advertisements for shops and consumer services, and business names in the urban environment.</em></p><em>During this period newspapers were printed in Latvian, but some papers, calendars and journals were printed in Latgalian, Russian and Polish. Company names, advertisements and partially-legible posters are visible in period photographs of the linguistic landscape. Advertising information at the beginning of the 1920s is only to be found in Russian, or with bilingual Russian-Latvian texts. Monolingual language signs in Latvian – noticeably missing diacritic marks and appropriate word endings – only begin to be seen from the 1930s.</em>


2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (0) ◽  
pp. 11-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maja Biernacka

War on Memorials in Catalonia. What to Do with Commemoration of the Battle of the Ebro The article discusses the conflicts taking place in public life over interpretation of the significance of places of national memory. The author presents them on the example of the dispute that arose in Spain over a memorial in the Catalan city of Tortosa. It commemorates the Battle of the Ebro, the military operation of the largest scale and consequences during the Spanish Civil War. The opponents of the memorial consider it as a testimony to the victory of Francoism and an unsightly and disgraceful element in the urban tissue. They appeal for its liquidation, while those arguing for its preservation and reinterpretation of the symbolic meaning treat it as an architecturally valuable distinguishing feature of the city. The fate of the controversial memorial does not rest solely in the hands of local authorities, but it has become a subject of political disagreement, disputes among residents and non-governmental activities. They are taking place against a background of the current legal basis of historical memory (Law 52/2007 of 26 December), which was developed by the political Left to compensate for the harm done to the victims of the Civil War and the Francoist dictatorship, and to implement changes in public space in connection with the traces of Francoism. However, its content leaves quite a big decision-making margin to the public authorities as to removing the traces of the regime from reinterpretation.


English Today ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Songqing Li

The concept of linguistic landscape (LL) covers all of the linguistic objects that mark the public space, i.e. any written sign one observes from road signs to advertising billboards, to the names of shops, streets or schools (Landry & Bourhis, 1997). Because it both shapes and is shaped by social and cultural associations (Ben-Rafael, 2009; Jaworski & Thurlow, 2010: 6–23), the LL has proved an important area for investigating the dynamics of major aspects of social life (e.g. Backhaus, 2006; Huebner, 2006; Curtin, 2009; Lado, 2011; Papen, 2012). One strand of this research is particularly concerned with the role of LL in relation to ethnolinguistic vitality that ‘makes a group likely to behave as a distinctive and active collective entity in intergroup relations’ (Giles, Bourhis & Taylor, 1977: 308). The higher the vitality an ethnolinguistic group enjoys, the more it will be able to use language so as to survive and thrive as a collective entity.


2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-48
Author(s):  
Amir Gohar

The Nile, in general, and particularly in Cairo, is an ecological, cultural and social corridor that is not yet fully utilized. The 2011 Cairo workshop “Connecting Cairo to the Nile” identified the potential to increase accessibility to the river, suggested longitude trail system, proposed connecting the waterfront with adjacent neighborhoods and proposed expanding the ferry system. I studied a 2-km reach of the east bank in Maadi, a wealthy suburb about 10 km upstream of the city center, with relatively greener banks, availability of resources at the district level, higher awareness of local residents, physical setting allow for banks re-use, existence of community organizations (i.e. Tree Lovers and Midan).  Findings of fieldwork and interviews show that: (i) species of native vegetation found are Phoenix Dactylifera, Jacaranda, Cortedarea and Papyrus alba; these are concentrated along 115 meter in southern part of the study area. (ii) Public access was categorized into: public space (accessible), private or semi-public space (accessible with conditions), and prohibited (inaccessible). Along this representative stretch of the Nile, the public access was limited to 16%, the private or semi-public makes 29% and the prohibited zones are 55%. (iii) Boating operations found to be in three categories, floating hotels (Nile cruises), motor boats (including ferries) and sailing boats, all are scattered along the banks without an overall plan or organization, which affects water flow and block public access to the banks. To better develop the banks, I recommend (i) maintaining existing riparian vegetation and expand it to other areas with healthy banks or planted nurseries, (ii) connecting open public spaces to create a pleasant walking trail along the banks in addition to improving public access by relocating government buildings (such as the police or military facilities) and facilitate access to the river for general public, (iii) reducing the anchoring points to two locations and redistribute boating operations to group all motor boats to use the ferry anchoring points and all the sailing boats to use Al-Yacht club marina.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 71-83
Author(s):  
Marta Koszko

Cities are the main centres of social, cultural life and economic development. They have always attracted newcomers not only because of new opportunities but also because of the feeling of belonging and uniqueness which people need. The attractiveness of a particular urban centre mainly rests on its image, which is created in relation to its own unique identity. The language of the city, which is present in the public space in the form of the linguistic landscape and which reflects the socio-cultural composition of the city, creates the identity. Both socio-cultural composition of a city (hence the languages spoken in the public space) and the linguistic landscape can create an image of a city which is either open for an interaction or presents limited interactional potential.


Author(s):  
Magdalena Miśkowiec

The aim of this article is to examine the relationship between an urban festival and changes in the social and spatial-functional structures in a city. We analyze the Light Move Festival in Łódź as a case study, showing the use of light in emphasizing local identity and cultural heritage. Data for this study was collected by means of interviews with the festival’s organizers. We also present data gathered in a survey conducted among the festival’s participants in 2016. The results show the social-demographic structure of the respondents, frequency of participation and source of information. We present the correlation between the festival’s spatial organization and the guidelines of the “Attractive Urban Spaces 2020+ Program” (Strategie przestrzennegorozwoju Łodzi 2020+ w ramach programu szczegółowego „Atrakcyjneprzestrzenie miejskie 2020+”). The study presents the possibility to use an urban festival as a local potential for building sustainable social and spatial policy. With constant population outflow, such events may help to attract new residents and rebuild the city’s image. It also creates an opportunity to test temporary traffic solutions and to familiarize the residents with them. Considering the revitalization actions undertaken by the city of Łódź, one might ask a question: What kind of impact does The Light Move Festival have on the city of Łódź?


2022 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 77
Author(s):  
Khireddine Dounia ◽  
Aichour Boudjemaa

The ecological processes known to the various manifestations of visual pollution, which is defined as: every element of the physical environment is affected by changes or interventions made by man to the natural and constructed environment, which leads to its distortion and harms the public health of citizens. In order to understand its reasons for reaching a balanced urban scene and thus affecting human health. Where its features appear in various visual and visual aspects of public space, especially roads, due to the misuse of this space, which stems from wrong behaviors in addition to the lack of the planning system,which leads to emptying the architectural image of the city of its content.   Received: 11 October 2021 / Accepted: 20 November 2021 / Published: 5 January 2022


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