Making Intangible Heritage Visible: Evaluating Civic Methods for Defining and Collecting Place-Based Heritage in Madinah

Rapid globalization is intensifying tensions between visitors and residents in heritage cities. In Madinah, which welcomed approximately 9 million visitors in 2024 and aims to reach 25 million by 2030, this pressure risks eroding residents’ lived experiences, daily rituals, routines, and social practices collectively understood as Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). This project seeks to identify and spatially map ICH to guide urban planners in protecting and enhancing culturally significant places amid rapid development. Despite its importance, few methodologies exist for systematically collecting and evaluating ICH. This research tests participatory methods for documenting ICH in Madinah through the “Living Heritage Atlas,” a project developed in collaboration with the Madinah Development Authority and Gehl. Between May and June 2025, four methods were deployed: semi-structured interviews, participatory mapping, an online survey, and a public engagement installation. Findings indicate that one-on-one interviews were most effective in capturing nuanced understandings of ICH, particularly in a context where cultural identity is deeply intertwined with religion. Other methods primarily raised ICH awareness rather than generating high volumes of data. The results further suggest that crowdsourced approaches to ICH documentation have mixed success without sustained public engagement to support broad and meaningful participation.