Gamification and Storytelling for Architectural History and Cultural Heritage Awareness

Many people, even architecture students, fail to connect with the multi-layered city they live in and with its past. Most inhabitants of such “palimpsest * ” cities usually live as if the current built environment has always existed throughout the history, failing to see the light that the buildings of different periods shed for their own age and their importance for us. When the reflections of the culture, which has been transmitted through generations and diversified by being fed from different sources, cannot be distinguished on various buildings, the architectural heritage of the cities can be overlooked, and might be consciously or unconsciously destroyed. Unfortunately, present architectural history or cultural heritage conservation courses do not help to adequately establish a healthy relationship between residents and the city or the cultural site that needs to be protected. In order to fill this important gap, we have recently proposed an EU project and this paper presents the objectives, partners, methodology and prospective implementations of the project, namely “Palimpsest Cities”, which aims t o create an alternative, innovative, interdisciplinary curriculum of a new course supported with gamification and storytelling techniques. This course will especially be designed for architecture students, and the project also aims to test this approach by various implementations in partner universities, as well as through collaborations with local governments and professional organizations. By doing so, it aims to deliver the content of this innovative course to whole residents of the city from children to elderly, with a special emphasis on social inclusion of disadvantaged groups. Likewise, this paper and its presentation will be an important opportunity to disseminate the project before its kick-off and contribute to essential network our project is seeking for.