ABSTRACT
The narrative of the contemporary city, as a collective experience, is inscribed in
the form of its monuments. The term monuments focuses both on buildings and on
objects which attract communal activities. However, if the metaphor of the book of
the city has any validity, then one has to consider the events which distinguish one
story from another and on which the course of a narrative turns. Such events point
out the general structure of a story or city, but have very little meaning on their
own when removed from the context with which they have a mutually supportive
relationship. Although the objective factuality of an event or monument is its most
obvious characteristic, the subjective qualities of its interpretation are what bring it to
life. It is so in stories, and it is the same in cities.
