|glossary - Sustainable Development|
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Sustainability has become one of the core issues of development. This means that investment in economic growth is pursued in ways that consider a long-term perspective and do not endanger the living standards, options and opportunities of future generations. Originally it focused mainly on environmental dangers but in the context of late capitalism encompassing all sectors of life and the economy, cultural development has also been brought into the issue.
Based on the argument that development efforts have hitherto largely neglected cultural aspects, it has been suggested that the cultural indicators for policy agendas such as sustainable development, quality of life or human rights have also to be considered. Among the indicators identified are cultural diversity, the dynamics and vitality of the cultural sector, or the opportunities for cultural access and participation, which should work as key criteria for ‘cultural planning’, an operational and analytical framework targeted at bringing cultural considerations into all processes of planning and development.
In 1991 UNESCO created the World Commission on Culture and Development. In its Report ‘Our Creative Diversities’ (1995), it devoted a separate chapter to the interdependency of culture and development. Similarly, the Council of Europe Declaration on Cultural Diversity (2001) states that “sustainable development as defined in relation to cultural diversity, assumes that technological and other developments, which occur to meet the needs of the present, will not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their needs with respect to the production, provision and exchange of culturally diverse services, products and practices”.
Meanwhile, sustainability has already become a key criterion for funding in the EU (e.g. the Structural Funds). An area identified for action is cultural heritage. To avoid ‘sustainability’ being reduced to a hollow phrase or to an argument promoting mainly preservation and conservation would mean looking at heritage as an ongoing capacity: heritage – tangible and intangible – should be continual and enriched by what is currently being produced or happening in the cultural field. Heritage requires not only protection, but development.