ͻ͹ ͵ͳ͸.͵͵Ͷ.ͷͷ/.ͷ͸ȋͶͻ͹.ͳͳȌ )MAG)N)NG AND REMEMBER)NG C)TY: MEMORY, SPACE AND SYMBOL)SM OF BELGRADE Ljiljana Rogač Mijatović Faculty of Dramatic Arts, Belgrade, Serbia Abstract: In contemporary “runaway world”, cities are becoming the main reference point of social life, change and development. The author discusses the complex process of articulating city identity and memory, as well as the meanings that arise in the interaction of memory, space and symbols of the city, within urban symbolism and cultural memory approach. What are the strategies of activating the cultural memory through multiple sym- bol bearers of the city, both tangible and intangible? The case study of the city of Belgrade indicates how the nar- ratives related to memory and symbol bearers can be used in fostering culturally sustainable development of the city. Keywords: cultural memory, urban symbolism, city, identity, Belgrade ). )NTRODUCT)ON “Environments change. A sudden disaster may destroy a city, farms will be made from wilderness, a loved place is abandoned, or a new settlement is built on an obscure frontier. Slower natural processes may transform an ancient landscape, or social shifts cause bizarre disloca- tions. In the midst of these events, people remember the past and imagine the future” (Lynch, 1972: 3)[ͳ]. The city is a compound of states of mind / emotions, mentalities, collective memory, traditions, and all of these are interweaving in the past and the present of the city, and its future development. The starting point in this paper is that cities are con- stituted of multiple, urban and memory symbol bear- ers. Using the categorical framework of urban symbol- ism and cultural memory symbol bearers, the research develops a more complex insight into present and past meanings attached to the city spaces and places. The examination is put on urban and memory symbolic patterns, related to the layout of the city, its neighbou- rhoods and surroundings, the architecture, monu- ments, myths, icons, legends, etc. through the content analysis of books, newspaper articles, blogs, films, literary works, etc. This encompasses the historical facts and the collective memory topi, as well as the urban myths and personal memories that all together produce the narratives that identify the city. The paper is based on the thesis that the cultural dimension of the city as a whole, including memory, space and symbols is