IT INDIAN HERITAGE PLATFORM: Enhancing cultural resilience in India by applying digital technologies to the Indian tangible and intangible heritage
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Salford
Department Name: Sch of Science,Engineering & Environment
Abstract
The research consists in exploiting the potential of digital technologies in raising awareness on the extraordinary cultural value of the tangible and intangible Indian heritage, currently under threat because of a variety of challenges, including rapid urbanisation and demographic changes associated with the flow of new population moving from different areas of the country.
Surat is a major metropolitan area experiencing dramatic migration flows and therefore its cultural identity is challenged by new uses and meanings given to the traditional cultural heritage. This research allows making available to the wider public through a website information including a sample of 10 exemplar heritage buildings. It will be possible for the website users to navigate the buildings through 3D models, including information on constructive techniques and state of conservation. The data on the buildings will be complemented with further information reflecting the less visible but equally important cultural assets, for example, folklore, traditions, uses and stories associated to the buildings and related environment. These will include: storytelling from the locals, short videos on the relevant traditional events.
Although the website and associated dataset is the main outcome of this research, partner institutions from India and UK will continue working jointly beyond the project through a Center of Excellence. This will be internet based and will offer support to all those authorities, willing to implement the same approach.
Surat is a major metropolitan area experiencing dramatic migration flows and therefore its cultural identity is challenged by new uses and meanings given to the traditional cultural heritage. This research allows making available to the wider public through a website information including a sample of 10 exemplar heritage buildings. It will be possible for the website users to navigate the buildings through 3D models, including information on constructive techniques and state of conservation. The data on the buildings will be complemented with further information reflecting the less visible but equally important cultural assets, for example, folklore, traditions, uses and stories associated to the buildings and related environment. These will include: storytelling from the locals, short videos on the relevant traditional events.
Although the website and associated dataset is the main outcome of this research, partner institutions from India and UK will continue working jointly beyond the project through a Center of Excellence. This will be internet based and will offer support to all those authorities, willing to implement the same approach.
Planned Impact
The main impact of this research will be to enhance the resiliency of the tangible and intangible cultural heritage in Surat, allowing to exploit its potential for the economic growth of the region. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council of India, in 2016 the total contribution of Travel & Tourism to GDP was INR14,018.5bn (USD208.9bn), 9.6% of GDP in 2016, and is forecast to rise by 6.7% in 2017, and to rise by 6.7% pa to INR28,491.8bn (USD424.5bn), 10.0% of GDP in 2027 (https://www.wttc.org/-/media/files/reports/economic-impact-research/countries-2017/india2017.pdf).
Leisure tourism flows are highly dependant on the cultural offer and the unique identity of a certain region, thus it is paramount preserving the cultural assets and the tangible and intangible heritage.
India is currently experiencing a massive demographic change, boosted by the rapid urbanisation of the major cities and associated migration flows. Documenting the extraordinary Indian heritage is essential to allow its conservation, thus supporting the economic growth related with the cultural and tourism sector. This is also in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as developed following the UN Habitat III Conference in Quito, which encompass cultural resiliency as a major driver for sustainability. The research will allow documenting 10 exemplar buildings in Surat and making the related data available on the web, thus allowing business to benefit from the better visibility gained by the Surat tangible heritage. The researchers will also gather data related to the intangible heritage of Surat (way of using spaces, traditions, narrative texts...) and make them available to the larger public. The local community will benefit a lot from this, since the website will contribute to raise awareness on the uniqueness of Surat and reinforce sense of belonging and local identity. Finally, the impact of the research on the academia will be huge, since at the moment no BIM datasets are available on the heritage buildings in the Surat area.
Leisure tourism flows are highly dependant on the cultural offer and the unique identity of a certain region, thus it is paramount preserving the cultural assets and the tangible and intangible heritage.
India is currently experiencing a massive demographic change, boosted by the rapid urbanisation of the major cities and associated migration flows. Documenting the extraordinary Indian heritage is essential to allow its conservation, thus supporting the economic growth related with the cultural and tourism sector. This is also in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) as developed following the UN Habitat III Conference in Quito, which encompass cultural resiliency as a major driver for sustainability. The research will allow documenting 10 exemplar buildings in Surat and making the related data available on the web, thus allowing business to benefit from the better visibility gained by the Surat tangible heritage. The researchers will also gather data related to the intangible heritage of Surat (way of using spaces, traditions, narrative texts...) and make them available to the larger public. The local community will benefit a lot from this, since the website will contribute to raise awareness on the uniqueness of Surat and reinforce sense of belonging and local identity. Finally, the impact of the research on the academia will be huge, since at the moment no BIM datasets are available on the heritage buildings in the Surat area.
Organisations
Publications
Udeaja C
(2020)
Urban Heritage Conservation and Rapid Urbanization: Insights from Surat, India
in Sustainability
Udeaja C. E.
(2020)
Urban Heritage Conservation and Rapid Urbanisation: Insights from Surat, India.
in Sustainability
| Description | The main aim of this research project was to enhance the cultural resilience of the Indian tangible and intangible heritage by exploiting the use of digital technologies. In addressing this main aim, the project research team achieved the following: • The project produced building information modelling (BIM) dataset and virtual reality (VR) that can be used by various stakeholders such as Historians, Archaeologists, Architects, Engineers, Contractors, and other departments. The developed model has been used to demonstrate the entire heritage building life cycle. Examples, quantities and shared properties of materials can be readily extracted and used for estimation, construction documents such as drawings, procurement details, submittal processes, and other specifications can be easily extracted. The developed models can be viewed as a virtual process that encompasses all aspects, disciplines, and systems of a facility within virtual models, allowing all design team members (archaeologist, historian, architects, engineers, contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers) to collaborate more accurately and efficiently than using traditional approach. • The project refined the scan-to-BIM methodology of documenting and conserving tangible heritage to establish the best practice approach and challenges facing stakeholders in the global south in turning physical heritage into digital models. The captured digital heritage models can be viewed as a virtual process that encompasses all aspects, disciplines, and systems of a facility within a single, virtual model, allowing all design team members (i.e., archaeologist, historian, architects, engineers, contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers, etc.) to collaborate more accurately and efficiently than the traditional approach. • The project integrated tangible and intangible heritage by exploiting digital technologies. The research team used digital storytelling with digital models, text, images and audio to provide platform to create awareness and educate the stakeholders and communities of their rich cultural heritage. • The project created UK-India interdisciplinary Centre of Excellence (COE) on BIM and heritage to raise awareness and build knowledge capacity among the youths and professionals working in the heritage field. The COE has three term stages: the short term is about organising workshops, networking using outputs from the project, the medium term working with the universities to develop curriculum and, the long term is about building capacity to other parts of the country. |
| Exploitation Route | The project team has developed a proof-of-concept on how the scan-to-BIM methodology will work and the best practice approach. This can be taken forward by the Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC) to document all the heritage structures especially in the two historic areas of the city (i.e., Gopipura and Rander areas). On the issue of awareness, the centre of excellence will serve as platform to help the communities, professionals, policy makers and others to build knowledge and understanding of their cultural heritage and formulate ways of harnessing and exploiting the potential of the intangible and tangible heritage in Surat. The project brought together stakeholders who were working in this area and what has been established is that there are pockets of datasets that can be gathered together to create a true picture of the cultural heritage of the Surat city & help the communities understand the value of their cultural heritage. |
| Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Construction,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Other |
| URL | https://it-india-project.com/ |
| Description | Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) uses our research output as digital documentation and promotes BIM technology for their internal strategy making. We developed a BIM prototype of some examplar structures for our research project, and these examplar structures are used by ASI as digital documentation in their organisation to help create awareness with their staff and the public. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2019 |
| Sector | Construction,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Economic,Policy & public services |
| Description | 3D Laser Scanning of Heritage Monuments |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Demonstration of 3D laser scanning to create awareness of how how physical heritage structures can be documented. About 20 participants from neighbouring universities and professionals. There was a lot of the interest from the university students and professional and they wanted to see more regular events to help them boost their knowledge of use of scanning or digital tools. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://it-india-project.com/ |
| Description | 3D Mapping and Laser Scanning of Heritage Structures |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | The event coincided with the data collection of the project. Key stakeholders were inited with some professional and students to demonstrate the process of the Scan-to-BIM of documenting the heritage structures. The participants requested for a follow up events to show how other approaches can be used. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://it-india-project.com/ |
| Description | AHRC/ICHR workshop on Cultural Heritage, Migration and Indian Diaspora |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | The event convened approximately 40 experts from the UK and India and draw on a range of disciplinary perspectives including history, heritage, languages, literature, the digital humanities, creative arts and archaeology. It built on two previous joint AHRCICHR workshops and funding calls held in 2015 and 2017, which gave researchers from the UK and India the opportunity to build partnerships, networks and collaborative projects addressing challenges related to urbanisation and cultural heritage in India. The key aim of the workshop was to enable researchers from the UK and India to reflect on the achievements of the AHRC/ICHR 'Cultural Heritage and Rapid Urbanisation in India' programme so far and to develop new partnerships with a view to longer-term collaboration. Discussions at the workshop informed the call for Research Networking projects that will be launched later this year. This call will invite applications with a duration of up to 6-9 months and a budget of £30-45K per project on the UK side with matched resources from ICHR to support the Indian component. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Art Humanities TV (AHTV) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
| Results and Impact | The event was aimed at equipping Arts and Humanities researchers with a better understanding of the television industry, and to create networks that enable them to identify opportunities for collaboration. For the TV industry, it provides the opportunity to access the skills, knowledge and expertise of AHRC researchers in a more structured and less ad hoc way. The event itself allowed the researchers access to the commissioners and other senior representatives in the TV industry, representing the BBC, Channel 4, Sky Arts, Nutopia and All3Media, etc. The event provided us the opportunity to attend: • Broadcaster session looking at the opportunities and challenges of working on arts and humanities programmes • Programme-Makers - analysis of arts and humanities programming from idea to broadcast • Marketplace of ideas - an opportunity to meet with programme-makers, commissioners and talent managers |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Digitization of Heritage: lessons Learned and Future Direction |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
| Results and Impact | The workshop was the project final workshop to disseminate the findings and how we take the project with our stakeholders. The event was attended by about 50 participants from different sectors. Our project was well received by the stakeholders and the participants and sparked discussion on how we can work with other researchers and agencies in this area to capture the datasets that are scattered in the city. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| URL | https://it-india-project.com/ |
| Description | Enhancing cultural resilience in India by applying digital technologies to Indian tangible and intangible heritage |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | The first issue of the newsletter was used to reach to different stakeholders about our project. It was also meant to be used to create aware of both tangible and intangible heritage in Surat. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://it-india-project.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Newsletter-Vol.1-June-2018_Final-1.pdf |
| Description | Enhancing cultural resilience in India by applying digital technologies to Indian tangible and intangible heritage. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | This is the second issue of the newsletter for the project that is used to communicate to the stakeholders and general public the current status of the project and the findings. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://it-india-project.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Newsletter-Issue-2-January-2020_31012020.pdf |
| Description | Heritage Symposium and Photography Exhibition |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | The title of the event was "Cultural Heritage of Surat Discovery". The purpose of this event was for the students from Sardar Vallabhbai National Institute of Technology and the general public to exhibit heritage photographs that depicts Surat culture. The agenda was for to use this to promote both intangible and tangible culture to a bigger audience in Surat. It was well attended and prizes were given to the best photos and these photos have been uploaded on the website. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://itindianheritageplatform.com/events/ |
| Description | Short-term training program - Urban Heritage Conservation: Issues and Challenges |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The event was five days workshop to discuss the issues and challenges facing the cultural heritage in Surat. The event attracted expertise from the industry, academic and the third sector to challenge the status quo and discuss how we can educate the future generation to preserve their culture and heritage. there were call from participants for further events, which will be done through the centre of excellence created in the course of this project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://it-india-project.com/ |
| Description | Stakeholders Engagement Workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | As part of activities scheduled to deliver the research Dr Dilipkumar Patel hosted this workshop as principal investigator along with the co-investigators Dr Chika Udeaja, Dr Claudia Trillo, Dr Kwasi Awuah and Dr Kumar Jha. The workshop has been organized during 8 - 14 September 2018 at Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology Surat. The workshop sought to interact with key stakeholders, garner useful insights into the subject of the research and facilitated empirical data collection for a systematic delivery of the research project. The workshop has been divided into various activities such as Photography exhibition, visit of monuments, interactive workshops, and semi structured interviews, survey of sites, data collection and different meetings. Visit of Surat city and monuments is important part of this workshop. The team has visited important monuments such as Dutch Garden, Old post office, British cemetery, Armenian cemetery, Gopi Lake, Gopi step well, Surat Fort, Clock Tower, Old school buildings of Nanpura, Museum and Mughal Sarai. Gopi pura and Rander, two oldest areas of Surat city has been explored by the team as heritage walk and photographic survey has been carried out. 3D photogrammetry survey of British Cemetery and 4 old school buildings was also carried out by the team. The Fort of Surat has been visited by team with conservation architect Mr. Sumesh Modi along with 60 NARA association students (selected architecture students across India). As a part of feeling and getting knowledge about intangible cultural heritage of Surat, the team has attended Yoga session with the yoga expert. The team also had traditional food such as Panipuri, Vada, Gujarati Thali, Pan etc. Team has also visited the traditional textile shop in the city center. The first interaction workshop was held on 10 September 2018 which was the main interactive workshop with the local stakeholders. 45 participants has been invited from various field from which 30 participants has attended the workshop. The participants are from different background such as the officials of Heritage Cell of Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC), Central Public Works Department, Gujarat Tourism, Surat smart city development limited, Art historian, architect, urban planning experts, structural engineering experts and social worker. The workshop has been attended by some of the key persons such as Prof S R Gandhi, Director of SVNIT, Prof S M Yadav, Head of Civil Department, Mr. C Y Bhatt, Dy. Commissionaire of SMC, Mr. Ravin Snaghvi, CEO of SuratiiLab and Mr. K J Oza, zonal engineer of Gujarat Tourism Department. The presentation has been given by Dr. Chika Udeaja, Dr. Kwasi Gyau and Dr. Claudia Trillo. The workshop was very interactive as many stakeholders has given their valuable inputs to the research plan. Another interactive workshop was held on 12 September 2018 at the office of Institute Civil Engineers and Architects Surat (ICEA). 19 participants has attended this workshop. Research team has introduced the project and discussed about the collaboration and way forward for the research. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://itindianheritageplatform.com/events/ |
| Description | Surat Heritage Scanning Workshop, Surat, India 2019 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | This workshop was about the use of scanning tools to document tangible heritage. To help create awareness of what technology can be used for scanning and the processes that can be used to deliver the a 3D model. There were over 20 people in attendance and they had an appreciation of how the scanning tools can be used to document their heritage. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://it-india-project.com/events/ |
| Description | Unlocking Cultural Heritage Values: Challenges to the Economics of Conservation |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I attended a workshop title "Unlocking Cultural Heritage Values: Challenges to the Economics of Conservation" in the XXI Century, Nottingham, UK to present our research idea on "Enhancing cultural resilience in India by applying digital technologies to the Indian tangible and intangible heritage". The purpose was to create awareness of our project to a national audience in the UK. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | http://itindianheritageplatform.com/publications/ |
| Description | Youth Heritage Awareness Exhibition 2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Schools |
| Results and Impact | The youth heritage awareness exhibition was organised to create awareness in schools. Over 100 students were invited and the turnout was huge and the students left with great awareness of tangible and intangible heritage of Surat. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| URL | https://it-india-project.com/events/ |