Cultural Policies for Sustainable Development

The concept of sustainable development is commonly divided into environmental, economic, social and cultural dimensions. While a variety of international actors have declared the importance of culture in sustainable development, jointly articulating this clearly has been difficult. For example, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that were adopted by the UN General Assembly in September 2015 contained only the most fleeting mention of culture. None of the SDGs referred directly to the case for integrating culture into sustainable development planning and decision-making. The role of cultural policy has remained unclear.

This book contributes to a better understanding of the role of culture in achieving sustainability, focusing on the particular roles for cultural policy in this context. Cultural sustainability is conceptualised as the sustainability of cultural and artistic practices and patterns, and to the role of cultural traits and actions to inform and compose part of the pathways towards more sustainable societies. The links between culture and sustainable development are analysed in ways that articulate and contemplate different roles for cultural policy. The contributors take up the concerns and perspectives of international, national, and local authorities and actors, illuminating ways in which these multi-scale efforts both intersect and diverge.

This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Cultural Policy.

Anita Kangas is Professor Emerita of Cultural Policy at the Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of Jyvaskyla, Finland.

Nancy Duxbury is Senior Researcher at the Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal, and co-coordinator of its Cities, Cultures and Architecture Research Group.

Christiaan De Beukelaer is Lecturer in Cultural Policy at the School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne, Australia.