Forever frenemies: built heritage, megacities and new technologies

Knowledge about how built heritage and megacities interact is still limited. At this stage of development, it is not yet clear what are winning approaches, how to measure performance, which data should be collected and how, and what is optimal way of using potentials of new technologies for that purpose. EU invested substantial resources into defining policy framework for culture and puts further efforts thorough understanding of it, which points out its huge estimated importance for societal well-being. Built heritage is most evident component of it, being usually “hardware” for all other cultural industries, and, at the same time, it is the most threatened by growth of cities. Significant contributions to better understanding of problem comes from World Bank, and work of Pedro B. Ortiz, followed by e.g. academic research at MIT (USA) and Politecnico di Milano, which address management of metropolis in general. However, we are far from having all the answers. In this paper we focused on modelling – with its core in interaction between mega cites and built heritage. From one side, there are heritage experts who value their legacy according to success in preserving heritage, on the other side – there are planners facing new economic and societal challenges due to historic growth of urban population. In addition, there are new technologies which develop faster than the capacity to apply them adequately. Therefore, we analysed collecting and processing data which are required for clear insight and objective evaluation of an outcome. We discussed methodology – combination of methods and technique which may lead to desired outcome – full understanding and control within planning and management of existing and emerging mega cities. Having in mind that size determines economic performance, quality of life and subsequently future of a mega city, including if there will be any, understanding this correlation substantially helps good governance.