Erasing Isis: how 3D technology now lets us copy and rebuild entire cities

Imagine Palmyra rebuilt as if Isis had never arrived, or Kathmandu restored to its pre-quake glory. As the V&A's special pavilion at the Venice Biennale shows, we now have the technology to create perfect copies of cities - but should we?

The 2,000-year-old city of Palmyra was once Syria's most popular tourist attraction. Walking through the Roman Great Colonnade to the Temple of Bel, with the sun setting and the stones turning gold and pink in the desert light, you felt a deep connection across the centuries to the city's heyday.

When Isis fighters stormed Palmyra and destroyed some of the most precious parts of this ancient city, the world was aghast.