Virtual Heritage Futures – UK and China

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The UK and China have large portfolios of UNESCO-designated cultural and natural heritage sites – World Heritage Sites, Geoparks and Biosphere Reserves. Beyond the goal of protection, there are a range of other demands that vary in extent from site to site including, conservation management, visitor management, and interpretation, along with playing a role in the sustainable development of local communities through tourism and related creative industries.  

This workshop explores the ways in which virtual technologies – virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence etc. – can be applied to the various dimensions of managing UNESCO-designated sites in the context of increasing needs to deliver sustainable development goals at both global and local levels. Heritage managers need to be increasingly aware, at both operational and strategic levels, of the ways that virtual technologies can assist in meeting their objectives while acknowledging the challenges of resource limitations. In the UK and China, collaboration and partnership are essential – between sites, across economic and business sectors and with local communities.  

Integrating heritage sites with various sectors in the long term, including the creative and digital economies, offers opportunities for growth. Innovative partnerships in housing, retail, health, and education can further benefit cultural heritage while achieving broader economic and social objectives. 

Supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, this workshop is part of a larger project which has brought together heritage sites and the creative industries in the digital sector in the UK and China to explore the potential and challenges of collaboration and the application of virtual technologies. It has focused on the experience of applications in different heritage sites and institutions and recognised the importance of those cultural and natural sites and landscapes that carry UNESCO designations.  

The workshop aims to support heritage professionals, site managers and governmental and inter-governmental agencies to foster modes of collaboration to generate future pathways for virtual technology in UNESCO sites. It will bring together examples of existing practices from the UK and from China and will focus on the application of digital and virtual technologies to the cultural and natural heritage sectors to explore: 

• The challenges arising in the design, use and performance of digital and virtual technologies in the cultural heritage sector; 
• The involvement of the creative industries; 
• Problems in working across different sectors; 
• Issues of funding, investment and sustainability; 
• Measuring performance and evaluating success.  

The workshop is open and directed to those professionals, practitioners and policymakers working across the heritage, digital, creative and tourism sectors.