''Cities are populated by two distinct yet interrelated groups of dwellers: monuments and residents. And there is a relation between the democratic health of the city's residents and the democratic health of public monuments. At times monuments and memorials in their stillness and speechlessness look strangely human, while traumatized humans in their silence and motionlessness may appear strangely monumental.
The silent city survivors living in the shadows of these monuments look at the blank facades and blind eyes of public buildings and memorials, which are speechless witnesses to present-day injustices. Both monuments and survivors need to be reanimated. The word "monument" is related to remembering, reminding, or minding and also to warning.
Monumentum, in Latin derives from the verb mono, monui, monitum that is to remind, to warn, to remind with regard to future conduct or events. The word "memorial" refers to the Latin memento that is precisely a command to mind and to remind.''
