Built heritage can be used to influence positively the social cohesion of neighbourhoods as it could be promoted in such a way that, instead of provoking tensions and division, would offer spaces of inclusion, interesting everyday experiences and provide a sense of belonging to socially excluded communities. The presentation will discuss the use of modelling, simulation and ICT for enhancing community participation and user engagement in the management of historic public spaces as commons.
The presentation will explore the potential of modelling and simulation tools for the study of the many different ways citizens engage bodily with the common resources of the city, such as heritage sites. In this effort we will use crowd simulation methods for mapping observational data in future planning scenarios for the city. Crowd simulation methods will be discussed as a computational technique that could help in the development of a digital practice for small-scale modelling (urban acupuncture). This approach was developed in response to the constraints that are typically imposed to the urban modelling process, and specifically methods that use simplified representations of human behaviour rules in their agent-based models. We will see how it builds on reactive agent-based models and uses virtual visitors’ (observation) data in order to adapt the digital model of the city in the real conditions of the built environment – a flexibility that is much needed in the case of modelling the history-rich built environments of Mediterranean cities, where the palimpsest of the urban fabric is very complex.
Contextualised in the broader research area of sustainable heritage, the talk will reflect on the applicability of an integrated approach to planning for heritage management, urban modelling, and computation (e.g., crowd simulation, VR) that will enable scholars, local authorities and stakeholders to better understand the diversity of users behaviour in historic public spaces. Under the right conditions, this approach to heritage management could steer the planning and site management process towards a more inclusive direction than typical heritage rehabilitation practices, since the many distinct groups of citizens that inhabit a city should be offered opportunities to learn more about the history of the spaces they occupy in their everyday life. The talk will conclude by considering the importance of using digital tools for community participation in planning – an operation that is acknowledged to be necessary for enabling socially resilient cities.