Defining 'Lost Cities'

• In Event: Lost Cities in Urban History: Absent Past, Conflict of Memories and Urban Utopia

Abstract

The paper focuses on formulating a theoretical background and conceptual definition for the phenomenon of 'lost cities'. This notion helps to avoid negative connotations that are often associated with overlapping notions such as 'left behind', 'ghost', or 'declining' cities, which are mostly explained in post-colonial terms. The concept of lostness is examined as a contradictory narrative practice resulting from multiple agencies and understood as a process.

Author

• Ekaterina Lapina-Kratasiuk, Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography (Germany)