ROLE OF HERITAGE

The Role of Public Sculpture and Monumental Architecture in Framing the Geographies of Everyday Life and In Anchoring Our Collective Social Memory

The Role of Public Sculpture and Monumental Architecture in Framing the Geographies of Everyday Life and In Anchoring Our Collective Social Memory

Introduction

There are two major divisions in the field of geography and human geography is one of them. Human geography comes under social sciences and is the study of people across the globe, their societies, cultures and values and their relationship with the geographies around them (Osborne, 2001, 1). This branch of geography is different from physical geography in that it deals not just with spaces but the relationship of people and their activities with the spaces (Gibson, 2004, 4). The research method typically used for human geography is qualitative research methodologies. Various fields are covered under the human geography. These are culture, economics, history, population, settlements, development, health, politics, and tourism.

The purpose of this essay is to critically evaluate the statement made by Johnson “The role of public sculpture and monumental architecture in framing the geographies of everyday life and in anchoring our collective social memory cannot be underestimated”. In doing so, the essay clarifies the concept of everyday geography, relates geography to public memory, describes the concept of collective social memory and cites examples from the rich heritage in London to prove the point.

Geography and everyday life

In understanding the role of public sculpture and monumental architecture, we need to understand the concept of geography as it relates to everyday life. Many people do not know and understand the influence that they have on a daily basis on the world and the space around them. This influence is the result of the everyday movements, and the everyday actins that people make. For instance, how many people think of their contribution that they make on a daily basis towards polluting the mother earth by driving their car so many miles on a daily basis (George, 1971, 27). How many people in the developing countries understand how the use of plastic bags is contributing in pollution for them and for the rest of the world and harming the ozone layer. Many people remain oblivious to these concepts for their whole life. The human geography and the everyday life aim at creating the awareness about the aforementioned issues on a mass level. People think there should be no need to study human geography because they know it already. It is not something that they need to learn from a book (Crabtree, 1996, 87). These things on the face of it seem so common sense. On one hand there are people who hold that they know everything about the geography that they need to know and on the other hand, there are people who think why they should even bother with knowing the locations, distance evaluations, regional contexts, recognition of places, distribution of membership and other such concepts (Harvey, 1973, ...