Culturally sustainable development: theoretical concept or practical policy instrument?

Abstract

This paper outlines the concepts of sustainability and sustainable development, and considers the evolution of efforts to integrate culture into sustainable development policy and practice over recent years. The specific concept of culturally sustainable development (CSD), first promulgated more than 20 years ago, is re-assessed in the light of contemporary circumstances as a theoretically plausible proposition and as a basis for application to cultural policy formation. The paper proposes a set of principles by which consistency of a cultural policy or cultural development strategy with CSD can be judged. The application of each of the principles is discussed, drawing illustrations from particular policy areas in both developed and developing countries. The paper argues that CSD is a concept that has both theoretical substance and potential for practical policy application.

Keywords:

• Sustainable development
• ESD
• sustainable development goals
• cultural sustainability
• culturally sustainable development

Acknowledgements

I am grateful for comments from two anonymous referees which enabled many improvements to this paper. Views expressed are entirely my own.

Notes

1. See in particular Isar’s paper in this volume.

2. This section and the next draw some material from several of the author’s earlier writings, including Throsby (2010, Ch 12, 2012a).

3. See, for example, Caldwell (1984); Smith (1995); Drexhage and Murphy (2010).

4. Illustrations include applications to fisheries (Fletcher et al. 2005) and water quality (Harding 2006); the latter paper also contains a succinct account of ESD policy development in Australia.

5. The reports emanating from this process comprise a comprehensive collection of industry analyses and discussion of inter-sectoral issues in the application of ESD in Australian policy in the early 1990s – see ESD Working Group Chairs (1992); see also Emmery (1993); Productivity Commission (1999).

6. The industries considered in the Australian process were agriculture, fisheries, forestry, mining, manufacturing, energy production, energy use, transport and tourism. Note that this process pre-dated the emergence of the creative economy, so cultural or creative industries were not included.

7. See, for example, Environment Canada (2010).

8. Similarly the chapter discussing ‘Culture and Sustainability’ in the 1998 World Culture Report deals with cultural knowledge as a guide to environmental management and related issues; see Leach (1998).

9. See Throsby (1995, 1997, 1999).

10. For a thorough treatment of cultural capital, including a discussion of ‘weak’ and ‘strong’ sustainability, see Rizzo and Throsby (2006); see also Dalziel et al. (2009).

11. The latter are sometimes referred to as ‘cultural ecosystems’ in imitation of the parallel concept in ecology.

12. Members of such organisations do of course also enjoy a private benefit from their membership; it is not known what proportions of an organisation’s membership revenues derive from public-good and/or private-good demand.

13. See contributions to Towse (1997); see also Frey (2011).

14. An economic analysis of the relationship between trade in movies and cultural diversity can be found in Shin (2015).

15. To implement such a proposal requires a valid means for assessment of cultural value; heritage evaluation is one area where some progress has been made in this direction, thanks to the fact that indicators of cultural significance are called for in the processing of listing decisions. On measurement aspects, see Throsby (2013).

16. See UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2013).

17. For examples of culture as a component of city development, see UNESCO (2013a) and Dessein et al. (2015).

18. See UN System Task Team on the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda (2012).

19. See respectively UNESCO (2013b); http://kebudayaan.kemdikbud.go.id/wcf2013/wp-content/uploads/sites/48/2013/11/Bali-Promise-English.pdf; and UNESCO (2014).

20. See, for example, Resolution 66/208 ‘Culture and Development’ adopted by the General Assembly of the UN on 22 December 2011.

21. See http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/.

22. For example in Sen (1998, 1999).

23. See, for example, contributions to De Beukelaer, Pyykkönen, and Singh (2015).

24. For a wide range of examples, see UNESCO’s Global Monitoring Report (UNESCO 2015); for an account relating specifically to culture and sustainable development, see this Report’s Ch. 8, 151–169.

25. See http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/.

26. See, for example, Okpara and Idowu (2013); for a review of CSR in the context of developing economies, see Eweje (2014).