The impact of digital formats on city museums: displaying, creating heritage and mobilizing cities and citizens

The chapter focuses on recent changes in museums encompassing the use of digital technology to display collections, create narratives and engage visitors. It analyses how the creation and implementation of digital formats is involving deep transformation. The COVID 19 pandemic has precipitated ongoing change across 2020-2022. While cities are embedded in the globalisation process, the methods with which city museums are using and focusing their collections concern the contemporary construction of the past and the diversity of urban identities. Curatorship, approaches, tools, and socio-cultural-economic impact account for specific challenges in the case of city museums. Strong relationships link these museums to their territory. Urban space and heritage as well as local developments and public wellbeing are crucial. Questioning formats reveal how city museums are generating cultural strategies by managing their collections and shaping a response to societal and cultural developments.