Speaker
Description
In the context of the European debate on the valorisation of the most fragile and scarcely accessible territorial contexts, a key role has long been recognised for heritage, no longer a static constraint to be preserved, but a real driving force in territorial cohesion and development policies. Heritage has acquired a central role in stimulating the exchange of specialised and local knowledge, in strengthening social resilience through connection to places and in promoting participation.
Within this framework, the contribution outlines the progress of the research within a nationally significant interdisciplinary project aimed at experimenting with a virtual system for exploring small historic villages in inner areas using digital technology and the valorisation of the historical heritage and landscape as well as the promotion of more inclusive access.
In particular, we investigate the role that the virtual platform tool can acquire in these contexts to guarantee the right to knowledge and sharing of heritage, understood as a set of socio-cultural and spatial, material and immaterial, cultural and environmental assets that constitute the identity and common heritage of places, removing obstacles to accessibility in both physical and information terms. A digital ‘space’ to be built in collaboration with local communities, in which to identify - also through virtual interaction between user-space and users - shared strategies for the protection, valorisation and promotion of cultural heritage and to foster the exchange of ideas between stakeholders (private individuals, public decision-makers and inhabitants). At the same time, it will serve as a community archive that allows the community to tell its own story.
The conceptual and operational set-up of the platform, as well as the underlying public involvement processes (of co-design and co-management), are currently being tested in the village of Stigliano, a leading municipality of the inland area ‘Montagna Materana’ in Basilicata.
The platform and the entire digital ecosystem proposed by the project acquire a dual significance in the research objectives. First, it becomes a useful tool to support and strengthen strategies aimed at countering territorial inequalities, in a context marked by structural socio-economic gaps that have accelerated depopulation, leading to a depletion of social capital and both material and immaterial resources. Through the integration of data on heritage, local businesses, citizen or visitor services, cultural events, and other public manifestations, as well as the ability to interact within a virtual environment, the platform aims to increase the visibility of the territory, the activities taking place there, and the connected landscape, facilitating remote access and attempting to stimulate interactions between users in the virtual environment to foster opportunities for cooperation and investment. However, this potential is countered by the risk that remote access may become self-contained within the virtual space, failing to promote physical presence or produce tangible benefits for local economies and communities.
A second meaning is related to the preservation of memory and local identities. Digitizing the cultural heritage in areas subject to depopulation and high levels of hydrogeological risk (aggravated by the climate crisis) represents, in practice, an important opportunity for accumulating knowledge in the face of the potential ‘inevitable fate’ of abandonment. In a ‘town that is crumbling’ (Teti, 2024), like Stigliano, whose historic centre is part of a relocation perimeter, as is the case for other towns in the Italian Apennines, preserving cultural heritage, even in digital form, means acknowledging ‘a fundamental democratic need’ (Tosco, 2014) and the identity of these territories and their communities. The platform thus becomes an accessible and shared archive capable of recording past and ongoing transformations, opening a dialogue on the future with the communities involved, including through paths of cultural and social regeneration.
References
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Teti, Vito (2024) Il risveglio del drago. Cavallerizzo: un paese mondo, tra abbandono e ricostruzione. Roma: Donzelli Editore. Tosco, Carlo (2014) I beni culturali. Storia, tutela e valorizzazione. Bologna: Il Mulino.
| Keywords | cultural landscapes; digital platform; inner areas |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
