ARise: an Augmented Reality Mobile Application to Improve Cultural Heritage Resilience
Angelica Urbanelli, Marina Nadalin, Mario Chiesa, Rojin Bayat, Massimo Migliorini, Claudio Rossi
TL;DR
The paper addresses the growing threat of climate change to cultural heritage and the need for engaging tools to promote resilience. It presents ARise, an augmented-reality mobile platform that integrates a Crowdsourcing Chatbot, a Social Media Data Analysis tool, and an AI Artworks Generation module, all developed through a five-region, co-creative process and implemented in Unity with AR Foundation to support both on-site and off-site experiences. Key contributions include a modular AR architecture that visualizes geolocated hazard data, sentiment-informed social visualizations, and AI-generated artworks tied to public sentiment, along with a documented Design Thinking workflow and cross-regional applicability. The work aims to educate and mobilize communities for heritage preservation and climate adaptation, with future work focusing on end-user evaluations to validate usability and impact.
Abstract
The preservation of cultural heritage faces increasing threats from climate change effects and environmental hazards, demanding innovative solutions that can promote awareness and resilience. This paper presents ARise, an Augmented Reality mobile application designed to enhance public engagement with cultural sites while raising awareness about the local impacts of climate change. Based on a user-centered co-creative methodology involving stakeholders from five European regions, ARise integrates multiple data sourcess - a Crowdsourcing Chatbot, a Social Media Data Analysis tool, and an AI-based Artwork Generation module - to deliver immersive and emotionally engaging experiences. Although formal user testing is forthcoming, this prototype demonstrates the potential of AR to support education, cultural sustainability, and climate adaptation.