The Mediatization of Urban Cultural Heritage: Participatory Approaches to Narrating the Urban Past

Abstract

This chapter examines how the mediatization of cultural heritage enables people to participate in the conservation of the urban past. The ways in which mediatization fosters public involvement in urban heritage conservation will be explored by focusing on three developments: the digitization of heritage collections, the growing attention paid to audience participation by heritage institutions, and the grassroots practices of cultural heritage initiated by citizens. Finally, I discuss how the mediatization of cultural heritage changes the public role of heritage institutions and their professionals. My main argument is that mediatization results in a growing diversity of urban heritage initiatives. However, this process of mediatization feeds into wider developments towards the democratization of cultural heritage.