Page 11 - Social_Sustainability of Culture

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Chapter 2 CULTURAL HERITAGE

2.1 Culture and heritage – THE CONCEPT

According to the Sustainable Development goals AGENDA 2030 - the SDG 11 Make cities and human
settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable is addressing an important aspect which include the
need for bigger efforts to protect the world’s cultural and natural heritage. Countless cities and territories
have set up and promoted policies to safeguard and enhance cultural heritage and other areas of culture.
Protecting tangible and intangible cultural heritage can become a driver of bottom-up policy coherence,
led by local and regional governments and involving increased participation of citizens and civil society.
Several cities, such as Regensburg (Germany), have adopted World Heritage management plans and have
been successful in involving local citizens and integrating cultural heritage in policy areas such as urban
planning, economic development and tourism. Other cities, including those mentioned below, have
increased their efforts towards the integration of heritage protection in other areas of policy making.
1

What do we mean as Cultural Heritage?

Before to analyze this concept, it is important to understand the meaning of culture itself:
Culture is defined as “the whole complex of distinctive, spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional as-
pects that characterizes a society or social group. It includes creative expression, community practices and
material forms such as sites, buildings, historic city centers, panoramas, art and objects.” 2

1 http://www.agenda21culture.net/sites/default/files/hlpf12018_-_11.4.pdf
2 UNESCO, Our creative diversity: report of the World Commission on Culture and Development; 1996