Reimagining Intangible Cultural Heritage through Contemporary Design: A Review of Cross-Disciplinary Strategies in Art, Technology, and Community Practice

Abstract

Background: Intangible cultural heritage (ICH) includes the oral traditions, rituals, and community knowledge systems that shape collective identities. In an era marked by cultural homogenization and technological transformation, design practices are being increasingly leveraged not only to preserve, but to reimagine ICH. This review investigates how contemporary, cross-disciplinary design approaches are reshaping the forms, ethics, and infrastructures through which heritage is transmitted.
Objective: This review aims to critically examine design-led strategies for engaging ICH, focusing on interdisciplinary collaboration, community participation, and representational innovation.
Methods: A systematic qualitative review was conducted using thematic synthesis across fourteen studies published between 2009 and 2025. Studies were selected through purposive database and repository searches, with inclusion criteria emphasizing ICH relevance, design integration, and methodological reflection. Data were extracted into eight analytical tables and interpreted through critical heritage and design theory frameworks.
Results: The findings reveal a growing turn toward participatory, co-creative models of heritage-making, where design is used to mediate memory, foster inclusion, and challenge institutional authority. Interventions employed diverse modalities — from immersive installations to legal and digital infrastructures — and often required negotiation between disciplinary paradigms. While collaboration generated innovation, it also surfaced tensions around authorship, access, and epistemic equity.
Conclusion: Design is increasingly positioned not just as a means of heritage preservation, but as a critical practice for shaping heritage futures. The review highlights the need for ethical co-authorship, infrastructural responsiveness, and interdisciplinary reflexivity in the reimagining of ICH in the contemporary moment.