A proposal for the expanded fruition of Cultural Heritage Sites: CAME, a methodology for their digitization

Abstract

Architectural and landscape heritage can be defined as the tangible - and intangible - memory of a community’s culture. It is an immense resource, but at the same time, yet enormously fragile and, unfortunately, essentially non-renewable. Its recognition as such implies a permanent action aimed at its knowledge and conservation, in order to ensure its correct transmission to future generations. The research project, in an attempt to respond to these needs, has explored innovative methodologies for the management and analysis of risks, vulnerability of cultural heritage and social impact, topics absolutely aligned with the research areas of the Department of Civil Engineering of the University of Salerno and the PhD Course in Risk and Sustainability in Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Systems. Thereby, I have had the opportunity to highlight the role and the current impact of digital technologies for the knowledge and protection of cultural heritage. In the first chapter I will therefore focus on defining and assessing the importance of cultural heritage as a sustainable resource for society and how to protect it, considering its possible risks, from the more engineering ones to oblivion and/or loss of cultural memory. Scientific and technological advances that promote strategies to protect cultural heritage are the order of the day: digitization, modeling, visualization, and the use of immersive systems have acquired unprecedented weight. The second chapter will highlight the new horizons that allow the incorporation of very different perspectives on heritage, involving increasingly specialized disciplines, with their own languages and algorithms. It will present the most contemporary international initiatives and strategies to improve qualitatively and quantitatively, through the tools offered by digital technologies, the possibilities of approaching the knowledge of cultural heritage by promoting new systems to interpret and conserve it. The methodology, which contemplates the analysis, digitization, and fruition of heritage, has been designed and applied in three case studies potentially recognizable by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites. Based on documentary research and the application of integrated digital survey and data processing techniques, actions have been developed to meet the increasing needs of society in terms of survey, recovery, and conservation. The cases analyzed do not follow a chronological order, but are presented in an order of scale, progressively moving away from the object. The first case study, on an architectural scale, focuses on an emblematic example of medieval Italy; the second case study, on a landscape scale, deals with the gardens and landscapes of Baroque Germany; finally, the last case study, this time on a territorial scale, focuses on one of the most extraordinary archaeological testimonies of pre-colonial South Africa. ... [edited by Author]