Metropolis and memory: the origins of conservation practice

Abstract

The postindustrial metropolis formation process shows to be the right moment for a new understanding of history. The critical attitude of an individual before their past creates a clear separation between past and present, replacing the notion of continuity so far granted by tradition. The metropolitan phenomenon is here reviewed on those aspects directly related to new ways of activating memory and new interpretation of legacies of the past concomitant to the development of ideas and practices for cultural heritage preservation. It is sought to situate in this scenario the approaches presented by key-figures, among them: 1) Viollet-le-Duc and John Ruskin, both started the debate on restoration legitimacy with different positioning on past testimonies; 2) Camillo Sitte and George-Eugène Haussmann the urbanists who stimulated the controversy urbanism versus preservationism which as quite prominent in the early decades of the twentieth century.