Digital Transition Strategies for Architectural Heritage

The implementation of digital technologies has been a feature of many of the most important socio-economic changes of the last two decades and has introduced significant transformations also in the field of Cultural Heritage. The digital transition had already been underway for some time with objectives focused on the preservation and protection of heritage sites increasingly exposed to risks from natural, climatic and anthropogenic factors. In the last few years (partly because of the pandemic crisis), new ways of perceiving, communicating and enjoying Cultural Heritage have also become objectives to be achieved through digitisation. The process of digitization of cultural heritage is one of the strategic objectives of the cultural heritage preservation and enhancement policies pursued by the European Commission and, on a national scale, by several Member States. In the Commission Recommendation published on November 10, 2021, the European Commission set out strategies for the realization of a common European data space for cultural heritage to ensure the accessibility and interoperability of digitized cultural resources. The document indicates to Member States the goals to be achieved and the areas in which they should support, politically and financially, institutions working in the Cultural Heritage sector. To fulfill the goals outlined in the Recommendation, it is essential to strengthen cooperation between digital and physical infrastructures and create transnational networks for sharing and disseminating technologies, services and products for Cultural Heritage preservation. The paper focuses on some of the issues addressed in recent years in the debate on digital transition in the cultural heritage sector. In particular: - the development and consolidation of federated digital infrastructures in transnational networks that facilitate access to and use of data and services; - the creation of a common European data space to host and make findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable the 3D Digital Assets (the FAIR principle); - the implementation of a European Cultural Heritage Cloud to ensure the interoperability and accessibility of digitized cultural heritage assets; - the strategic role that the European Competence Centre for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage, will play to federate European Institutions working in the field of Cultural Heritage.