INCLUSIVE CULTURAL HERITAGE SITES: ICT AS A TOOL TO SUPPORT THE DESIGN PROCESS AND SHARE KNOWLEDGE

Abstract

Within the European strategies for a sustainable development, the role of cultural heritage as an economic, environmental and social driver has become increasingly significant. As an asset in people’s lives, it’s necessary to assure anyone the opportunity to access it. For this reason, urban transformation policies must guarantee the proper compromise between the requirements of conservation and physical/cognitive accessibility. This entails a clear design complexity, which however cannot justify the lack of intervention, but must propose new governance models for an inclusive design process.In a broader research framework, the implementation of ICT has turned out to be a solution that can address some issues in enhancing the level of inclusion in cultural heritage sites. Particularly, the conception of an interactive map has seemed the proper perspective of producing a feasible operative tool. The first aim is linked to the necessity of having an information system thank to which everyone, particularly users with special needs, could be able to organize their movements and be aware of the proposed services and fulfilled inclusive strategies. The second target is connected to the management of the projects related to the development of inclusion, therefore it is addressed to municipal administrators and other key actors involved in the governance of cultural heritage.Finally, the discussion about the main objectives and features of an interactive map wants to highlight the role that ICT can assume within an inclusive design approach, for which is needed a tool able to support the intervention on the physical environment and offer further essential services.