Telling the Legend

a transmedia strategy for the collective reconstruction of urban memory

Abstract

This article proposes a transmedia strategy that contributes to processes of reconstruction and appropriation of urban memory through the interrelation of four key memory categories: cultural memory, material memory, social memory, and living memory. In this approach, each category represents a thread in the fabric of the city—a woven history created, appropriated, and transmitted by the community itself.

Cultural memory identifies the symbols and expressions that have shaped the collective identity of the territory. Material memory emphasizes the objects and places that preserve memory and reinforce emotional connections with inhabitants. Social memory, understood as collective historical consciousness, encompasses both dominant and marginal narratives and highlights the power structures involved in the construction of memory. Living memory focuses on the active, dynamic, and situated dimension of memory as it is recreated by local actors through dialogue and interaction.

This strategy was implemented in a pilot study in the city of Bucaramanga, Colombia, using the site known as “La Casa del Diablo” as a narrative anchor. This location preserves the physical space of a former hacienda and holds an urban legend from the late 19th century, which served as a catalyst for the co-creative process. Cuenta la leyenda is the name of the digital platform designed to host multiple urban memory nodes, built through this strategy’s implementation, which integrates co-creation workshops, narrative development, and interactive modules. This initial stage revealed how a single story can activate intergenerational memories, strengthen territorial belonging, and generate new collective representations of urban space.