Visual storytelling to promote stratification and hybridisation of Cultural Heritage

Abstract

The concept of Cultural Heritage, in its tangible and intangible meanings, has been expanding its contents and definitions for more than twenty years, involving multiple subjects and spaces at different scales. It plays a crucial role in the progress of societies, promoting dialogue between cultures and respecting identity and diversity. At the same time, it is an invaluable resource for education, employment, tourism, and sustainable development.
In this scenario, reading, understanding, and valorising the cultural resources of territories becomes essential for understanding an urban area’s aims and relational complexity, which is aimed at redesigning the actual spaces. In an urban context, Cultural Heritage is exposed, subjected to interpretation and understanding by residents and tourists alike. In this process, visual storytelling becomes a key instrument for communication, identifying the recipient and its cultural background and proceeding to a cultural mediation to bridge the gap between perceived content and its meanings.
The article starts with a state-of-the-art discussion of visual communication applied to cultural heritage, exploring the domain’s techniques and methodological approaches. Then, starting from the contextualisation of the research, set within the Esquiline district in Rome, the study focuses on the critical-comparative analysis between different visual approaches of different itineraries, relating the type of communication, the object of the communication, and the results achieved. The aim is to validate the visual approach regarding an active cultural experience, guaranteeing an accessible, participatory, and inclusive experience of Cultural Heritage.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.20365/disegnarecon.31.2023.8