The (in)effectiveness of sanctions: an attempt at the space-time evolution of street names in a Chinese historic city: a theoretical exploration from social memory

Applying GIS spatial analysis and social memory theory, this paper explores the space-time evolution in street names in the main urban districts of Nanjing, a typical Chinese historic city. Findings are as following. Newly-added street names layout around the perimeter of old districts and disappeared ones agglomerate within there. The southern of old districts owned existent and extinct ones of the highest density. During 1950s~1980s, newly-added ones were concentrated along the Yangtze River, from the 1990s they came to cluster outside the old districts. Since 1911, the government came to occupy the naming right, but its dominant role was weakened and enterprises’ spontaneity increased. Existing streets are mainly named after settlements, blessings, exotic culture or natural landscape, inheriting the convention of old districts and depicting the vision of new districts. Ones named after religious beliefs, historical figures, economic activities, municipal facilities or geographic orientations are easily disappeared due to changes in social ideology and physical space. The driving mechanism of social memory is summarized as next. The involvement of power and capital produce many modern-style street names. The transitivity and continuity of social memory postpone the demise of old ones. The constructiovity and selectivity of social memory propel toponymic evolution.