Title: Living memorials project: year 1 social and site assessment

Author: Svendsen, Erika S.; Campbell, Lindsay K.

Year: 2005

Publication: Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-333. Newtown Square, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Research Station. 123 p.

Abstract: The Living Memorials Project (LMP) social and site assessment identified more than 200 public open spaces created, used, or enhanced in memory of the tragic events of September 11, 2001 (9-11). A national registry of these sites is available for viewing and updating online. Researchers interviewed 100 community groups using social ecology methods of observation, patterned discourse, and photo-narrative mapping. This publication includes findings associated with research conducted in the first year of the multi-year study. One of the findings was that after 9-11, communities needed space: space to create, space to teach, space to restore, space to create a locus of control. These social motivations formed the basis of patterned human responses observed throughout the nation. A site typology emerged adhering to specific forms and functions that often reflected a variance in attitudes, beliefs, and social networks.