The disasters of the Great War in Ypres: memory and collective identity.

Located at the western edge of the Flanders region, Ypres is one of "the historical post-disaster and post-war examples", where, after the destruction of its historic fabric during the first World War, the vox populi did not resign to the irreversible loss of its heritage, that, almost instinctively, was rebuilt à l'identique.
In the '20s and' 30s, the city was faithfully rebuilt in medieval style and today the complex which consists of the bell tower and the Lakenhalle (Cloth Hall) has been ranked among the sites of the World Heritage List since 1999. A century after the tragedy of the war, the town presents, in all its elements, a close link with the past and especially with the memory of the war, which now has become a unifying element, recognized in the population identity.
As part of the Commémoration du Grand Centenaire of the World War I - which has had the aim to rediscover and enhance the Great War heritage -, several meetings, activities and initiatives have been organized and some interventions that aimed at enhancing the testimonies of buildings and sites of war have been valued. Some of them − the restoration of Kazematten and the ancient Poudrière and interventions to improve the perception of the Bluff war landscape − can be considered interesting for the practice of landscape architectural conservation.
The aim of this paper is to understand how these interventions, considered as interesting practices for the conservation of tangible and intangible heritage, have strengthened the collective identity and have been able to grasp the sense of identity of the war – that now is characteristic of the city – by permitting to the instances of its memory to be turned into places regenerators projects.