Literature projects like this might be a true “weapon of the weak”. Unlike approved and formal archives or desired but illicit repositories, literature is an oblique archive. It allows one to stockpile alternatives to current reality and keep the allure of the different alive.
Cities in literature can be looked at as record-keepers of major demographic shifts, cultural, political and archeological changes, urban planning, landscaping, ecology, and almost all aspects of life. In reality, a space/place is always in flux for our world is constantly being changed or re-arranged. Wars, religion, development, renovation, decay, natural resources, disasters, economy, sociology and many other factors cause these fluxes. Imagination as a tool then can help us to rebel, rebuild, remember, grieve, or celebrate. And this is the incredible gift of fiction — it offers us realities which might be difficult or even impossible to live and understand, otherwise.