About TIMELAYERS
TIMELAYERS has at its basis an understanding of the city as urban palimpsest. A palimpsest is an antique or medieval piece of writing from which the original text has been erased and overwritten with new text. The example of the Archimedes palimpsest shows that layers of earlier texts are not always completely erased and that fragments of another time have the potential of unlocking secrets of the future. Our cities are urban palimpsests, consisting of various layers across time. Urban layers are made of urban memory and local history which emerge from everyday social and cultural practice, made accessible through TimeLayers' visual, audio and video information. TimeLayers opens up new avenues of understanding the city and its cultural diversity to which citizens, scholars and visitors can contribute. The act of unforgetting the past an looking into the future is necessary and desirable toward inclusive, participatory city-making and urban living.
TIMELAYERS is a web and mobile platform for public, scholars and professionals invested in developing a critical understanding for urban transformation processes toward a sustainable urban and cultural future of our cities. It encourages inclusionary, participatory planning strategies. TIMELAYERS raises sensibility for urban and cultural heritage and makes aware of the erasure of historical and cultural assets and neighborhood memory through urban transformation. It acts as online memory for overwritten layers and enables access to past and future information of our city.
Currently in its test phase, TIMELAYERS will offer solutions for individuals, institutions and businesses interested and engaged in the production, research, and improvement of our urban spaces.
