A team of LoGaCulture researchers from Portugal and across Europe has piloted Biotopia — a groundbreaking transmedia experience that invites people to explore heritage not just as human history, but as an entangled story of humans, animals, plants, and landscapes — and published their findings in the research paper Designing Biotopia: A Transmedia Experience for Natureculture Heritage and More-than-Human Entanglements, presented at the 2025 ACM Designing Interactive Systems (DIS) Conference.

Developed under our EU-funded LoGaCulture project ( which aims to create inclusive and accessible cultural heritage experiences across Europe by combining digital innovation with social and artistic collaboration), Biotopia connects visitors of museums and nature walks in Madeira to the island’s unique “natureculture heritage.” The project challenges the traditional separation of nature and culture in heritage narratives, instead emphasizing how people, ecosystems, and more-than-human beings are deeply interconnected.

Too often, heritage has been framed around monuments, artefacts, and human achievements. But, especially in a time of climate change and biodiversity loss, it’s vital to also recognise the voices, rhythms, and stories of the more-than-human world.

Biotopia is experienced across multiple formats — from nature walks along Madeira’s famous Levadas (irrigation channels), to interactive museum installations, to digital storytelling artefacts. Each piece contributes to a larger narrative that highlights ecological interdependence and encourages visitors to reflect on their relationship with the natural world.

To guide the design, the team developed three Design Constructs:

  • Digital Balance: integrating technology in mindful and non-intrusive ways during visitor journeys.
  • Sensory Symbiosis: using multisensory storytelling to deepen embodied connections with heritage.
  • Webs of Life: foregrounding the ecological interconnectedness of humans and more-than-humans.

These principles helped shape interactive artefacts such as the Levada Companion, which explores new ways of engaging with local species while raising awareness of the limits of human control over nature.

The research draws on posthumanist and feminist theories that seek to “decenter” humans and give space to multispecies perspectives. This approach resonates strongly in Madeira, where natural and cultural heritage are inseparable — from endemic bird species to landscapes shaped by centuries of irrigation systems.

The authors emphasize that Biotopia is not just a technological experiment, but also an ethical one. Designing respectful interactions with wildlife, avoiding exploitation, and embracing plural perspectives were key considerations throughout the process.

The research team includes Marta Ferreira, Pedro Galvão-Ferreira, Lavinia Rossini, Matteo Cappello, Maritza Silva, Ying Xu, Mathilde Gouin, Nuno Jardim Nunes, and Valentina Nisi.

Their study contributes to ongoing debates in Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and heritage studies. By bridging theory with practice, the team hopes to inspire new ways of thinking about heritage — not just as the legacy of people, but as the shared life of humans, animals, and environments in a fragile and changing world.

You can read the full research paper here.