Architecture and National Identity

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240086 SE Creating national identities WS 2011 Elina Vestere Architecture as part of national identity ‘Architecture translates meanings into spatial form’ [C. Norberg-Schultz] Introduction In this paper I would like to explore the relation between the built environment and nations’ identity. Moreover, I believe it is interesting to observe the process in which we build the identity as we build buildings. The built environment is something people can’t avoid when living in cities, towns or villages, the nation space of a state. Nevertheless, it is quite difficult to imagine - how can something as static and unchangeable as built structure affect the nation’s common identity? Further questions arise on the topic instantly: What influence can architecture claim to have on the social and the political? What is the status of architecture as a force of social change? Leach (1999: 116) offers his point of view by stating that if architecture is perceived as the most public of all arts then the involvement of the social in architecture is more direct than in other forms of aesthetic expression. Moreover architecture is very much interrelated and dependent on economic and other structures of power, and therefore its capacity to function as a crucial force of change is compromised (Leach 1999: 116). The aim set for the paper is: to explore the various aspects of relation between architecture and national identity. In order to achieve the aim the following three research questions were formulated: 1. What is the role of architecture in construction of national identity? 2. How is architecture linked to political ideology? 3. How nations use architecture to reinforce national identity? (The case of Latvia) In the introduction I would also like to state some underlying positions for further analysis in the paper. Firstly, following
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