Smart Heritage: Converging Smart Technologies and Heritage

A special issue of Heritage (ISSN 2571-9408).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2021) | Viewed by 11512

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Dean of Faculty of Architecture and Design, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6012, New Zealand
Interests: virtual and augmented environments; parametric and algorithmic modelling and simulation; BIM; thermal comfort; digital manga
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Guest Editor
Wellington Faculty of Architecture and Design Innovationm, Wellington, New Zealand
Interests: Smart Heritage within local government contexts

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Guest Editor
Lecturer, Faculty of Architecture and Design, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6012, New Zealand
Interests: New Zealand 20th century architectural history; modernist architectural heritage; oral history research in architectural history

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Smart technology and artificial intelligence are expanding into novel research and practical fields to create innovative solutions for society. Next in this evolutionary expansion is the heritage discipline, from which the convergence forms the unique Smart Heritage discourse. Smart Heritage is the convergence of autonomous and automatic technologies with the subjective processes associated with interpreting and valuing the past.

Smart Heritage presents the opportunity to weave the contextual influence of heritage with the decentralised, technology-led mantra of smart technology. Significantly, Smart Heritage advances beyond Digital Heritage as it breaks with the conceptual confines of Digital Heritage, which emphasises the passivity of technology, in favour of an active curatorial role for smart technology. This innovation may lead Smart Heritage to become the new academic vanguard at the intersection of technology and heritage.

This Special Issue provides a platform for examining, investigating, and proposing the convergence of smart technology and artificial intelligence with the heritage discipline. The issue welcomes contributors to explore this convergence in the areas of heritage, digital information technology and computing, museum studies, architecture, governance and policy, and urban planning. Contributors are encouraged to propose novel forms and discourses between smart technologies and heritage, and challenge existing rhetoric and limitations.

Prof. Dr. Marc Aurel Schnabel
Mr. David Batchelor
Dr. Michael Dudding
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Heritage is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • smart heritage
  • smart city
  • heritage
  • digital heritage
  • governance
  • liveability

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 3264 KiB  
Article
A Smart Heritage System to Re-Generate New Zealand’s 19th Century Timber Churches
by Sam McLennan and Andre Brown
Heritage 2021, 4(4), 4040-4055; https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage4040222 - 29 Oct 2021
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2290
Abstract
This article describes a Smart Heritage computational system that automatically produces a wide range of design proposals for new timber Gothic churches based on an intelligent interpretation of an architectural database of historic churches. The system enlists the software ‘Houdini’ and a digitally [...] Read more.
This article describes a Smart Heritage computational system that automatically produces a wide range of design proposals for new timber Gothic churches based on an intelligent interpretation of an architectural database of historic churches. The system enlists the software ‘Houdini’ and a digitally archived dataset of 19th Century timber Gothic churches. The cases presented here focus primarily on timber churches built in Wellington, New Zealand. Through a process of analysis and deconstruction of these historic churches into their characteristic architectural components, spatial organisation and geometric relationships, the system assembles them into novel designs based on high-level design parameters. This paper details this computational system, its development, its operation and its outputs. The role of the system that has been developed is two-fold. One is designing in an architectural heritage context, and one is as an aid to historical architectural investigations, or what can be called digital forensics. The particular outputs are automatically generated hybrid churches that capture the historical design values and complexities of Gothic inspired churches in New Zealand. However, the broader applications are as an investigative tool for historians, and as an objective generative tool for those involved in heritage reconstruction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Heritage: Converging Smart Technologies and Heritage)
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10 pages, 2709 KiB  
Article
Smart Architectural and Urban Heritage: An Applied Reflection
by Stefano Brusaporci and Pamela Maiezza
Heritage 2021, 4(3), 2044-2053; https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage4030116 - 30 Aug 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2891
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to present the use of 3D models and augmented reality (AR) to study and communicate architectural and urban values and, therefore, favor the development of dedicated forms of “smart heritage”. The study rises from a reflection on [...] Read more.
The aim of this paper is to present the use of 3D models and augmented reality (AR) to study and communicate architectural and urban values and, therefore, favor the development of dedicated forms of “smart heritage”. The study rises from a reflection on the concept of “heritage”, as defined in the international documents, intended as an evolving idea that puts together tangible and intangible aspects. Moreover, digital technologies favor “phygital” applications where the digital dimension support the traditional ones. In this way, AR allows the superimposition of multimedia information to heritage, respecting the historical matter of the artefacts, and supporting a “smart heritage” application. In particular, mobile AR, with real-time and ubiquitous visualizations, offers the opportunity to show past urban and architectural configurations to investigate and describe the transformations that have led to the current configuration, and consequently highlighting the present historical and architectural values of the buildings. Two case studies are presented: the square of St. Basilio Monastery, with its historical transformations, and the Basilica of Collemaggio, a pivotal building in the rites of “Perdonanza Celestiniana”. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Heritage: Converging Smart Technologies and Heritage)
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11 pages, 237 KiB  
Article
Smart Heritage: Defining the Discourse
by David Batchelor, Marc Aurel Schnabel and Michael Dudding
Heritage 2021, 4(2), 1005-1015; https://doi.org/10.3390/heritage4020055 - 21 Jun 2021
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 4795
Abstract
The academic literature contains an increasing quantity of references to Smart Heritage. These references are at the intersection of the smart city and heritage disciplines and primarily within informative, interpretative, and governance applications. The literature indicates the future expansion of the Smart Heritage [...] Read more.
The academic literature contains an increasing quantity of references to Smart Heritage. These references are at the intersection of the smart city and heritage disciplines and primarily within informative, interpretative, and governance applications. The literature indicates the future expansion of the Smart Heritage discourse into additional applications as researchers apply smart technology to more complex cultural environments. The Smart Heritage discourse signals an advancement in the literature beyond Digital Heritage and Virtual Heritage discourses as Smart Heritage pivots on the active curatorship of heritage experiences by automated and autonomous technologies, rather than technology as a passive digital tool for human-curated experiences. The article comprehensively reviews the emergent Smart Heritage discourse for the first time in the academic literature, and then offers a contemporary definition that considers the literature to date. The review and definition draw on literature across the contributing disciplines to understand the discourse’s development and current state. The article finds that Smart Heritage is an independent discourse that intertwines the autonomous and automatic capabilities and innovation of smart technologies with the contextual and subjective interpretation of the past. Smart Heritage is likely the future vanguard for research between the technology and heritage disciplines. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Smart Heritage: Converging Smart Technologies and Heritage)
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