Places of memory: Architecture, territory, and environment. The experience of the Center for Memory and Comprehensive Action for the Care of the Forest of Galilea and the Territory Community School (CMAI)- Colombia

Abstract

This article analyzes the complex relationships of places of memory from an interdisciplinary approach, to address the extractivist threats of the energy and mining sector and the interests of green business in the Galilea Forest. For this, the qualitative Participatory Action Research methodology was used, in collaboration with the social actors of the place, to strengthen the processes of territorial self-management in alliance with the University. Likewise, the symbolic understanding of architecture was examined further as a node of memory and collective cohesion. As a result, the "Center of Memory and Integral Action for the Care of the Galilea Forest and the Territory (CMAI)" Community School was created, which contributes to the social and cultural traditions of the Galilea premontane rainforest, in the Colombian Andes, through academic and scientific processes in knowledge encounters. The results of the project are reflected on three scales: architectural, territorial, and global.