Virtualization and the Preservation of a Railway Heritage

Abstract

This article aims at presenting virtualization as a possibility for revaluating railway heritage, which has a great potential to be integrated into urban environments. Despite the fact that virtualization causes some controversy, many institutional museums have virtual exhibitions, and society is increasingly demanding the use of virtual resources. Integrating the Araraquara railway heritage into the Big Data challenge, using an industrial inventory as the foundation for the creation of a virtual database, aims at triggering a reflection on the use of new technologies, virtual museums and new urban planning concepts to enhance its value and to preserve it through the development of participative urban planning projects.