Living Memorials Project

Book excerpt: Reviews the public spaces that have been created, used, or enhanced in memory lives lost from terrorists' attacks of September 11, 2001. Reports the results of a national registry that serves as an online inventory of living memorial sites and social motivations. Through the first year of research, more than 200 living memorials were located in every state in the U.S. This publication includes findings associated with research conducted in the first year of the multi-year study. One of the findings was that after September 11, 2001, 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.