Mediated Cities- Rendered in Bits and Stone

The book provides a cross disciplinary examination of digital reconstruction projects and innovations in the field of immersive exhibitions, looking into the ‘digital politics of conservation’; technologies that augment storytelling’; and digital technologies considered tools for creating ‘virtual models of the past’. A critical exploration of how digital technologies are reshaping global heritage conservation, storytelling, and the politics of preservation. As digital technologies increasingly shape how we preserve, interpret, and experience the past, the field of digital heritage has undergone rapid and transformative growth. This book offers a timely and critical exploration of how tools such as 3D modelling, augmented reality, and mobile applications are redefining the landscape of heritage conservation and storytelling. Bringing together contributions from international scholars across disciplines -including architectural conservation, archaeology, urban studies, tourism, photography, museology, and game studies – and featuring culturally and geographically diverse case studies, this collection engages with the complex politics, practices, and potentials of digital heritage. Maciej Stasiowski is a film and media scholar graduate from the Institute of Audiovisual Arts, Faculty of Management and Social Communication, at Jagiellonian University, Poland. The field of digital heritage, definable in the most elementary terms as the application of digital technologies to the practices of conservation and heritage practices, has exploded in recent years. Today it is typical to see 3D modelling, augmented reality, virtual tours and mobile apps as part and parcel of the heritage sector in a whole variety of ways. This has been reflected in academia with a growing number of conferences and publications dedicated to these questions. The objective of this book is to offer an interdisciplinary examination of such practices which, it is expected, will reveal more of the nuances, interplays and a wider range of interests than is found in the current literature. To that end, the book offers chapters from international scholars in several disciplines: architectural conservation, archaeology, cultural tourism, urban studies and photography; heritage, film, game, museal studies, and scenography. Their work deals with three broad areas of activity in the digital heritage field that this book defines as the ‘digital politics of conservation’; technology as a heritage ‘storytelling’ device; and digital technologies as tools to create ‘virtual models of the past’.