Depicting the Urban Landscape. Enhancing the Cultural Heritage of Fragile Areas with Participatory Mapping Processes

The contribution suggests reflecting upon participatory mapping of cultural values processes contained in everyday landscapes, particularly fragile environments such as peripheral urban areas. The theme is addressed starting from the reexamination of Politecnico di Milano research experience which focused on the involvement of younger generations in landscape education and enhancement of the widespread cultural heritage processes. From this experimental project, we developed tools and methodologies to support institutions in standardising local heritage education. Within this framework, the participatory mapping tradition becomes an important reference for its subjective and interdisciplinary aspect and ability to represent the community’s spatial knowledge, because it offers cues for technological integration in processes for inexperienced users. Mapping used here is a reading, interpreting, communicating and sharing process which involves multiple players and educational frameworks. Drafting such maps combines traditional methodologies and innovative technologies and allows the development of different activities and products including learning tours, visual storytelling, sketches, mind maps, interactive digital maps, Geographic Information Systems, virtual reality environments, interactive digital tourist tours and gamification apps. The availability of these tools allows young citizens to become active players in the knowledge and communication processes, to strengthen their sense of belonging to places, to develop active citizenship, to foster intergenerational and intercultural dialogues, and to protect the cultural landscape as a common good.