Persistences: Analysis of the Image of Gdańsk and Its Cultural Identity Through Survey Processes and Digital Architectural Representation

Abstract

The aim of the research was to analyse the historical legacy/heritage of the city of Gdańsk in order to characterise the narrative tools which can be used to promote the cultural identity of the urban landscape. The main focus was on the city’s defence system – a cultural route that is spatially limited to a relatively small area, but temporally spanning almost a millennium. The fortifications demarcate a spatial boundary, limiting the urban layout, which has remained distinguishable over the centuries, however changing its image. The research activities have been carried out by a multidisciplinary group of scholars participating in the H2020 PROMETHEUS European project aimed at developing innovative methodologies for digitising architecture with the integration of multidisciplinary data and information models, leading to specialised figures capable of operating on heritage built assets. The image of the city and the urban landscape is transforming in an attempt to strengthen its historical identity. In each century, new architectural and formal models are introduced, which become integrated with the structural characteristics of the urban layout, altering the urban space. Today, in the digital age, it is becoming strategic not only to convert architecture and its models, but also to make the urban image more explicit, trying to translate the invariants of the landscape into the 3D digital databases.