The academic literature contains an increasing quantity of references to Smart Heritage. These references are at the intersection of the smart city and heritage disciplines and primarily within informative, interpretative, and governance applications. The literature indicates the future expansion of the Smart Heritage discourse into additional applications as researchers apply smart technology to more complex cultural environments. The Smart Heritage discourse signals an advancement in the literature beyond Digital Heritage and Virtual Heritage discourses as Smart Heritage pivots on the active curatorship of heritage experiences by automated and autonomous technologies, rather than technology as a passive digital tool for human-curated experiences. The article comprehensively reviews the emergent Smart Heritage discourse for the first time in the academic literature, and then offers a contemporary definition that considers the literature to date. The review and definition draw on literature across the contributing disciplines to understand the discourse’s development and current state. The article finds that Smart Heritage is an independent discourse that intertwines the autonomous and automatic capabilities and innovation of smart technologies with the contextual and subjective interpretation of the past. Smart Heritage is likely the future vanguard for research between the technology and heritage disciplines.

Local governments are applying smart discourses to resolve challenges in their jurisdictions. Smart discourses like Smart Infrastructure and Smart Mobility result from convergences of smart city discipline and traditional disciplines to deliver novel computer-led decision-making and tailored services. Over the past decade, these smart discourses have become embedded within local government strategic documents through explicit references and operational initiatives. An emerging smart discourse that local governments can adopt is forming between the smart city discipline and the heritage discipline, subsequently producing the Smart Heritage discourse. This article chronicles an investigation into the strategic relationships between the smart city and heritage disciplines within three Australian local governments. In each local government, the researchers analysed strategic smart city and heritage documents to identify shared themes, distilling the data into generalised findings that identify the state of play for Smart Heritage in these organisations. These findings suggest that Smart Heritage is emerging in local government organisations and could soon materialise in their documents alongside established smart discourses. It also signals that the intersection of heritage and technology is advancing into the policy arena, beyond previous Digital Heritage applications. Planners and policy professionals may have to adjust their thinking to accommodate this new discourse.

Local governments are responding to rising complexities in service delivery, governance, and civic stewardship with novel interdisciplinary discourses that converge previously separate disciplines. Smart Heritage, the novel convergence of smart city and heritage disciplines, is one interdisciplinary discourse that local governments utilise to address these demands. To successfully deliver Smart Heritage, local governments must understand how the interdisciplinary relationships, influence, and aspirations function within their organisation. However, due to the novelty of Smart Heritage, no academic research exists on these matters, particularly within local government contexts. Therefore, this article reports how relationships, influence, and strategic aspirations between the smart city and heritage discipline intersect as Smart Heritage. It draws on interviews with smart city and heritage advisors from three local governments in Australia. It finds a case-by-case working relationship between the disciplines, which indicates an emergent-yet-tenuous Smart Heritage discourse. Moreover, the interdisciplinary relationships influence broader considerations from the advisors than their single discipline. These considerations produce innovative aspirations for local governments on heritage and smart city matters. This finding establishes the first foundational understanding of Smart Heritage within local government.

Smart Heritage enables urban designers and planners to reimagine historical narratives within cities through the untethered perspectives of smart technology. Smart Heritage is the convergence between the smart city and heritage disciplines that intertwines the autonomous and automatic capabilities and innovation of smart technologies with the contextual and subjective interpretation of the past. It is an emergent and distinct discourse in the academic literature that positions technology as the leadcurator of historical narratives. It is comparable with similar smart discourses, such as Smart Mobility and Smart Infrastructure, and contrasts with the human-led and archival focused Digital Heritage discourse. Through Smart Heritage, urban designers and planners are not physically, intellectually, and locationally limited in retelling and deploying culturally and socially powerful historical narratives. Instead, experts can draw online and personal data to produce powerful and novel experiences in cities. This article introduces Smart Heritage as a tool for urban designers and planners. It discusses how Smart Heritage can reimagine historical narratives within cities.

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