VIRTUAL ISTANBUL HERITAGE(S)
Abstract
This paper examines how genius loci—the spirit of place—is being reshaped in the digital age through new forms of mediated memory, perception, and affect. Rather than a stable essence, genius loci is understood as a constructed phenomenon produced through embodied experience and culturally informed interpretation. Drawing on Lisa Feldman Barrett’s theory of constructed emotion, the paper argues that emotional experience arises from interoceptive signals and predictive frameworks shaped by past encounters. The spirit of place is likewise constructed through sensory engagement and the conceptual structures through which meaning is assigned. Digital technologies increasingly intervene in this process. Virtual reconstructions, immersive archives, and social media externalise memory and generate what Landsberg terms prosthetic memory—affective connections created through technological mediation rather than direct encounter. These tools support access and heritage narratives, yet they remain limited: VR reproduces visual and auditory cues but cannot recreate the tactile, olfactory, and atmospheric dimensions essential to place experience. Technology therefore amplifies meaning but cannot generate the embodied reciprocity that animates genius loci. Parallel insights from contemporary Japanese visual culture deepen this argument. As Benett (2025) notes, anime visualises the instability of memory and identity through fragmented temporality. Works such as Ghost in the Shell and Millennium Actress show how meaning persists through reinterpretation—a dynamic mirrored in digital heritage. The paper concludes that in the digital era, genius loci becomes a hybrid ecology of memory: materially grounded yet extended through technological mediation.
Zana Llonçari Osmani is an architect and conservation specialist with broad experience in cultural heritage policy, conservation planning, and urban regeneration. She spent over a decade at the Ministry of Culture, contributing to core regulations on heritage inventory and protection zones. Her professional roles include work with Artec, the Palace of Youth, UNDP, and her current position as CEO of Memory Architects. Zana holds an MSc in Historic Conservation and is pursuing a Doctorate in Heritage, while actively engaging with ICOMOS, TICCIH and ACHS.