Experiencing Change: Extended Realities and Empowerment in Community Engagement

In the 21st century, community participation in heritage management has become a worldwide phenomenon. Despite this shift in heritage management thinking and the inclusion of community members in such processes, these participatory efforts have not necessarily led to the empowerment of communities in decision making. Many studies have been conducted to probe this critical question and to better understand what hinders the active involvement of the public. This paper examines the question through Crossing the Pell, an academic project from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). With grant sponsors/clients and based in real-time heritage management issues of historic Newport, Rhode Island, this project emphasized creative and untested methods for engaging community through the use of immersive digital environments. As sponsored design with the stipulated objectives of funders and clients, the professors and students were charged with not only solutions for an adaptation of existing infrastructure but also the design of a unique community engagement process. This paper documents the multi-year academic endeavor, analyzes its outcomes in the context of the history of community engagement, and offers a hypothesis for implementing an active and meaningful participatory process in cultural heritage management through the use of extended realities.