Hybrid Heritagescapes as Urban Commons in Mediterranean Cities: Accessing the Deep-Rooted Spatial Interfaces of Cities
Abstract
This Chapter presents the theoretical considerations, proceedings and practical outcomes of the training school that took place in Nicosia in the context of the COST Action CyberParks. The Chapter introduces the history of Nicosia, the last divided capital of Europe, through the development of its Venetian fortifications. It presents new approaches to the use of ICT for facilitating the re-appropriation of the moat of Nicosia’s medieval fortifications from being used as parking space, and other fragmentary private uses, into a green belt that highlights the only shared heritage that unites the two sides of the divided city, that is, its Medieval Walls. It discusses about digital interfaces and interactive narratives, which contribute to the exploitation of heritage in Mediterranean cities for the reactivation of neglected urban green spaces through playful engagement, gamification, and storytelling. It argues that heritage can be used to influence positively the social cohesion of neighbourhoods as it can 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. Two ICT-enabled proposals developed during the training school are presented: the first about the development of a digital platform for co-appropriation and co-management of the spaces into the moat by the inhabitants of the city in cooperation with the local authorities; and the second about the creation of spatially-distributed storytelling for the promotion of the history of the Medieval walls of the city by exploiting the software and communities of Geocaching. These actions will be contextualised by the preliminary results of a limited survey of users of the space under study, which informed the two proposals.
Artopoulos, Georgios, Constantinos Miltiadis, and Francesco Bagni. ‘Hybrid Heritagescapes as Urban Commons in Mediterranean Cities: Accessing the Deep-Rooted Spatial Interfaces of Cities’. In Neighbourhood & City -Analogue and Digital Perspectives, edited by Marluci Menezes and Carlos Smaniotto Costa, 81–96. Lisbon: Edições Lusófona, 2018.
