Paper Short Abstract:

This study explores ephemeral memory of the city through the concept of space’, derived from Lacan's autre. It examines how temporary spatial practices and desires shape urban identity, challenging permanent spaces and questioning how fleeting traces influence urban narration and archiving.

Paper Abstract:

The relationship between urban dwellers and the city, and the formation of identity within it, is strongly influenced by memory sites. These sites are shaped not only by the physical space but also by the emotional engagement—feelings and memories—associated with it. Temporary urban interventions, walks, performances, and practices guided by desire create encounter spaces, meeting places, and areas of chance that disrupt the space’s ordinary form, even if briefly. Urban spaces, subject to emotional effects and desires, undergo détournement and alterations, transforming into space’ (other space). These momentary changes alter the space’s relationship with its context and the experiencer, embedding a different memory.

This study explores the connection between urban memory and temporary spatial practices through the concept of space’, derived from Jacques Lacan’s autre (the other). It investigates how urban space is not only a physical area but a narrative shaped by desires, otherness, and transient experiences.When temporary spatial practices fade, how are their traces preserved in urban memory? Space’ serves as a tool to describe these fleeting traces, embodying ambiguous spatial formations that challenge fixed, permanent representations. Desire here is not only an individual impulse but also a collective means for urban narration.

In conclusion, space’ contributes a theoretical perspective to urban memory and temporality, suggesting that memory can emerge not only from permanent spaces but also through ephemeral spatial practices and desires, questioning traditional archiving and the traces of the temporary.