Paper Short Abstract:

This paper focuses on everyday heritage in the context of rapid urban change. Using innovative methods for documenting people’s engagement with the urban environment, I explore how these features of everyday heritage in the city of Reykjavík elicit their stories, memories and identities.

Paper Abstract:

How do people perceive and value the material and cultural dimensions of everyday heritage? How do the material remains of the past embedded in the urban fabric, become focal points for local stories, artistic expression, and contested narratives about the city's identity? This paper explores the material and cultural dimensions of everyday heritage in the context of rapid urban change and how they are narrated by residents. Material remains of past urban landscapes can be revealed or eradicated (or both) in urban redevelopment. Sometimes they remain by accident, hidden in plain sight, or left submerged under new surfaces. In this paper I explore these features of everyday heritage in downtown Reykjavík as expressed by participants in a three-year study on heritage attachment in the urban terrain. We used participatory research, group interviews and individual walks with recording glasses to document people’s comments on various features of the urban landscape. By focusing on participants’ perception and narration I want to study how they perceive and value these material indexes of their personal history and the city’s past. It contributes to the panel's theme of "unwriting" and "rewriting" territories by examining how material aspects of the urban landscape, that are often overlooked or marginalized, can challenge dominant narratives and offer alternative understandings of place. The innovative use of recording glasses during walks offers a unique methodological approach to documenting the embodied experience of navigating the city, providing valuable insights into the complex relationship between people and place.