Computational methods and rural cultural & natural heritage: A review

Cultural and Natural Heritage (CNH) are both irreplaceable sources of life and inspiration, according to the UNESCO definition. Rural areas represent outstanding examples of cultural, either tangible or intangible, and natural heritage. While rural areas are facing a socio-economic and demographic crisis all over the world, CNH need not only to be safeguarded, but also promoted as a driver for competitiveness, growth and sustainable and inclusive development. This paper goes deeper into the study of computational methods (CMs) applied to modelling CNH in rural areas by looking at how computational methods can support CNH promotion and valorisation to transform rural areas into laboratories for the demonstration of sustainable development through improving the unique potential of their heritage. To this end, different computational methods have been studied and classified according to their scope and application area parameters, showing some correlation among the said parameters and the class of computational method. Apart from how CMs have been applied, whether it is possible to scale up these CMs elsewhere has also been considered.