Empty squares and collective memory

City spaces provide an anchor for the collective memory of different groups, especially when those spaces are proclaimed and occupied to influence social change. Since 2010, many protests have took the square as the symbolic place for collective action against authority. This presentation will focus on what happens to the square as a symbolic place for memory after protests fail to reach their aspired change. With a focus on Tahrir square in Egypt, the presentation will follow how the square was transformed during and in the years after 2011 protests in an intentional effort to shape collective memory and identity, and how those changes are experienced by pedestrians.