Sensing the Intangible City: Decoding Historically Centralised Narratives

How can digital memory practices and Black digital geographies inform community-based approaches to re-centring narratives of Black, People of Colour (BPOC)? Perspectives of enslaved and displaced peoples remain largely excluded from official histories. Mainstream media frequently renders BPOC "ungeographic" (McKittrick 2006), displacing differences while naturalising dominant

regimes. 1. Critical Spatial Practices and Placemaking: This question asks in what ways participatory spatial interventions can reshape understandings and narratives of space through creative digital placemaking practices and physical visual spatial interventions (Farrelly & James, 2022). It draws on scholarship from Black geographies highlighting

how black lives and histories have been rendered "ungeographic" within traditional discourses that erase racialised difference (McKittrick, 2021). Tactics for critical placemaking provide paths to reclaim narratives of resistance and survival through creative practice. 2. Participatory Counter-Mapping of Intangible Heritage: This question asks how participatory counter-mapping of

intangible heritage can help uncover and amplify unremembered perspectives of Black diasporas excluded from centralized historical narratives (Alia & Bull, 2005; Parker, 2006). It engages with postcolonial mapping theory revealing biases that fail to capture the rich complexity of marginalised communities' lived experiences across

scattered geographies and generations (McKittrick, 2021). Reconstituting intangible heritage through collaborative mapping holds the potential to bridge fragmented diasporic networks (Porter, 2022). 3. Transforming Narratives through Extended Reality: This question examines the ways immersive technologies might transform dominant spatial narratives by centring

BPOC perspectives (Hoskins, 2018; Srinivasan, 2017; Valdivia 2010). It critically evaluates risks of perpetuating marginalization within emerging media while considering virtual environments as participatory storytelling canvases that could nurture empathy. Transporting audiences into contested pasts could catalyze more inclusive

understandings of place.

Theoretical frameworks from Black geographies (McKittrick, 2021), Afrofuturism (DeIuliis & Lohr, 2016), and feminist participatory methodologies (Collins, 1990; hooks, 1993) originating from UK and international sources shape the inquiry. Research activities prototyping novel interfaces for engagement intend to model equitable partnerships

between academic institutions and BPOC communities. Research Methods This project utilizes a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach (Freimuth et al., 2001) with BPOC as co-producers of knowledge. Guiding ethics emphasize avoiding harm, mutual benefit, participant autonomy and cultural sensitivity (Scheurich and Young, 1997).

It engages complementary datasets on transatlantic slavery including: - Transatlantic Slave Trade Database (Eltis et al., 2021) - Slave Biographies (Michigan State University, ND) - Legacies of British Slave-ownership (Hall et al., 2014) These sources incorporate personal narratives and human perspectives to complement quantitative data.

Through 12 iterative stages, the mixed methods incorporate: 1) Participatory counter-mapping workshops (McKittrick, 2021) 2) Data visualization design applying principles to humanize data (D'Ignazio, Klein 2023) 3) Site surveys gathering photographs, audio recordings, etc. 4) Media prototyping for accessibility

5) Co-creative production of artefacts 6) User testing & refinement to resolve issues 7) Development & iteration of final works 8) Dissemination as augmented reality installations (Black Cultural Archives, 2022) 9) Embedded qualitative observations (ethnographic analysis) 10) Impact tracking (analytics, attendance, engagement)

11) Assessment via interviews, focus groups, surveys (Collins, 1990) 12) Analysis, synthesis and archiving locally