Experience Castlegate

Demonstrating how immersive digital technologies can harness the power of cultural heritage and community engagement towards more inclusive urban regeneration strategies in post-industrial cities.

January – July 2018 / Castlegate, Sheffield / in partnership with UoS Departments of Archaeology and Computer Science, Human Studio and Friends of Sheffield Castle

This interdisciplinary project was a collaboration between Live Works, UoS colleagues from Archaeology and Computer Science, and partners from industry and the local community.  It received £75k of funding from the AHRC/EPSRC Immersive Experience programme. The project explored the capacity of immersive technologies to inform heritage and community-led urban regeneration strategies. Using Augmented Reality technologies, we explored how to harness the power of cultural heritage to foster a dialogue with local government, community heritage organisations and the wider public. This project focussed on the Castlegate area of Sheffield, a now largely run-down part of the city centre, but with a rich history of 800 years of continuous occupation and the site of Sheffield Castle. The project is intended to offer a model for engaging the public with their heritage and empowering community groups to work with urban planners and local government to demand imaginative regeneration.

Project outputs included:

• the production of the first 3D digital model of Sheffield Castle

• a geo-located AR prototype of Sheffield Castle for viewing on-site via smart phone

• an installation at Festival of the Mind 2018 using AR to showcase the Castle on a scale model of contemporary Castlegate, alongside visions for a community-led regeneration of the site 

Related project: Festival of the Mind: Experience Castlegate