Cultural policies for sustainable development: four strategic paths

Abstract

In the Sustainable Development Goals adopted by the United Nations in 2015, the role of culture is limited. We argue that culture’s absence is rooted in the longue durée of interplay among theoretical and policy debates on culture in sustainable development and on cultural policy since the mid-twentieth century. In response to variations in concepts and frameworks used in advocacy, policy, and academia, we propose four roles cultural policy can play towards sustainable development: first, to safeguard and sustain cultural practices and rights; second, to ‘green’ the operations and impacts of cultural organizations and industries; third, to raise awareness and catalyse actions about sustainability and climate change; and fourth, to foster ‘ecological citizenship’. The challenge for cultural policy is to help forge and guide actions along these co-existing and overlapping strategic paths towards sustainable development.

Keywords:

• Sustainable development
• cultural policy
• cultural sustainability
• culture and sustainability
• sustainable development goals
• UNESCO

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The 17 SDG goals are: (1) End poverty in all its forms everywhere; (2) End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture; (3) Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages; (4) Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all; (5) Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls; (6) Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all; (7) Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all; (8) Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all; (9) Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation; (10) Reduce inequality within and among countries; (11) Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable; (12) Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns; (13) Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts; (14) Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development; (15) Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss; (16) Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels; and (17) Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the global partnership for sustainable development.

2. See Vlassis (2015) on the history of these negotiations.

3. Due to increased globalisation, cultural expressions such as films, books, music recordings, and so on traveled more easily and rapidly than ever before, yet while some countries had developed strong local markets and significant domestic production, others struggled to produce content in the globalised cultural industries. As well, countries with significant local production, such as France, perceived a threat from the influx of (primarily Anglophone) content that could diminish the cultural character of the country.

4. At the same time, through a separate UN process, The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1966 (https://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/edumat/IHRIP/circle/modules/module3.htm).

5. These conferences included: Intergovernmental Conference on Institutional, Administrative and Financial Aspects of Cultural Policies, Venice, 1970; Intergovernmental Conference on Cultural Policies in Europe, Helsinki, 1972; Intergovernmental Conference on Cultural Policies in Asia, Yogyakarta, Indonesia, 1973; Intergovernmental Conference on Cultural Policies in Africa, Accra, Ghana, 1975; and Intergovernmental Conference on Cultural Policies in Latin America and Caribbean, Bogotá, 1978.

6. See the decision in 1997 by the newly elected British Labour government headed by Tony Blair to establish a Creative Industries Task Force as a central activity of its new Department of Culture, Media and Sport (see Flew 2012) and the publication of Creative Nation in Australia in 1994 (Government of Australia 1994).

7. Mexico City World Conference on Cultural Policies (MONDIACULT), 1982.

8. For detailed discussions of social sustainability, see Boström (2012).

9. The environmental art projects supported have addressed a range of environmental topics of importance to city residents, with broader conceptual and pragmatic resonance in society, such as: how to ethically coexist and collectively define shared urban spaces with urban animals; how contemporary city gardens and plants can be used to support and extend multi-cultural traditions in an urban environment; and how green waste can be creatively repurposed. For details, see: http://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/environmental-art.aspx.