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.     

A Centre for Excellence in Education for Sustainable Development

The English higher education landscape has recently experienced a significant change with the addition of 74 Centres for Excellence in Teaching & Learning (CETLs), each one devoted to a particular educational issue or theme. This paper highlights a CETL which is of special interest to geographers in that it is focused on the promotion of education for sustainable development (ESD). The CETL is based at the University of Plymouth, UK, and is tasked with the responsibility of embedding a whole-university approach to sustainability. It will also seek to encourage best practice more widely, working with other institutions regionally, nationally and internationally.     

我国特大城市协调性发展的创新模式探究

改革开放以来,工业化与城镇化成为我国经济快速增长和社会全面发展的主要驱动力。城市现代化与交通运输网络体系的建立促进了城乡一体化发展,缓解了城乡二元结构矛盾。但由于我国人口众多,基础设施建设不足,城市发展面临的主客观因素复杂,发展协调性问题日益突出。大城市尤其是百万人口以上的特大城市,城市盲目蔓延,生态环境污染与破坏严重,发展严重不协调。针对我国特大城市发展协调性问题,对其发展背景、挑战、研究的必要性和创新模式构建等根本性问题进行初步的探索研究,以全面促进我国城市健康可持续发展。     

What is this bird? The quest to identify parrot remains from the Heyward-Washington House,Charleston, South Carolina

ABSTRACT

Excavations in the 1970s at the ca. 1772 Heyward-Washington House in Charleston, South Carolina, produced a rich and diverse archaeological assemblage spanning the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Among the vertebrate remains are four bones from a large member of the parrot family. We now believe the bird was a blue-fronted or turquoise-fronted amazon parrot (Psittacidae: Amazona aestiva), an animal originating in South America. Over the decades, we have studied the zooarchaeological signature of social identity in Charleston, the evolving urban environment, and the vast trade networks of the colonial port city, all of which are embodied in the remains of this single bird. The parrot leads to a discussion of social roles of captive birds in early Charleston, the eclectic interests of city residents, and the city’s global trade networks.     

Social sustainability of urban regeneration led by industrial land redevelopment in Taiwan

Abandoned industrial sites, usually contaminated by hazardous substances, create social injustice in the surrounding communities. Redevelopment of industrial land has brought prospects of sustainable development to the communities that live in and around them. This research is to identify the critical factors facilitating urban regeneration and particularly social sustainability in Kaohsiung, an industrial city of Taiwan which experienced deindustrialization in recent decades, resulting in several abandoned industrial sites and decay of the adjacent urban communities. Two different industrial land redevelopment projects were examined; (1) Jhongdou Wetland Park, which focuses on environmental sustainability, and (2) Pier-2 Art Centre, which focuses on economic sustainability. Measured by the social sustainability indicators developed by the Oxford Institute for Sustainable Development and through findings from a questionnaire survey of community members, this study found that the redevelopment project of the Pier-2 Art Centre has a higher level of social sustainability than the Jhongdou Wetland Park, performing better in six out of nine themes. Critical dimensions resulting in the better performance in social sustainability of the Pier-2 Art Centre included rental affordability, heritage conservation, community image, cultural activity, community association, public space, local organization and higher accessibility to facility.     

论城市选择性旅游

本文阐述了城市选择性旅游的基本构成及其实践意义,并深入探讨了其在旅游可持续发展中的重要作用。     

对可持续发展与城乡发展的理性思考

一定区域内城市与乡村的发展及城乡关系的合理演进构建了区域可持续发展的整体框架。本文从逻辑和现实的角度出发,提出城市内涵发展和乡村生存与有序发展模式,尤其强调指出:扩展城市可持续发展领域、探寻新的城市发展理论是城市内涵发展的重要内容;可持续发展模式不适于贫困乡村及一般乡村的发展。对城乡关系的演进,从演进态势、促进其合理演进的契合点及营建区域可持续发展空间关系网络角度等几个方面展开讨论,以揭示城乡发展与可持续发展的关联,力求对新形势下区域整体合理发展有所裨益。     

城市历史文脉的延续——关于我国旧城道路规划建设的思考

本文在简要介绍历史街区概念及城市交通可持续发展原则的基础上,剖析了我国旧城道路规划建设在保护城市历史文脉方面存在的问题,同时针对这些问题提出具体解决对策。     

Development of a Methodological Framework for Handling Urban Archaeological Resources: Tarsus Historic City Centre,Turkey

In Turkey, most of the historic city centres have been continuously occupied since early ages, and ongoing research or ad hoc findings indicate urban archaeological resources beneath modern cities. According to the results of such research, archaeological and conservation sites are determined in terms of current legal frameworks. However, urban archaeological resources have not been included in the planning process because of inadequacy in spatial documentation, so archaeological deposits have been seen as problem areas in urban development. Thus, urban archaeological resources — not only subsoil resources, even monumental sites — could not be integrated into urban daily life, so most citizens are not aware of archaeological layers beneath their feet. The research project in Tarsus historic city centre, which is supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK), primarily aims to develop a method to include urban archaeology — especially subsoil archaeological resources — into the urban conservation planning process of multilayered historic city centres in Turkey. In this way, planners would be informed, aware, and equipped about the urban archaeological potential at the earliest stages of the planning process. Consequently, urban archaeology, as an inter-/ multi-disciplinary field of research, is going to evolve as a crucial planning analysis in urban conservation including not only archaeological research, but also in evaluating settlement history and issues in urban development.     

Reframing China’s heritage conservation discourse. Learning by testing civic engagement tools in a historic rural village

Urban heritage conservation in China has been subject to severe criticism, although there is now a sense of paradigm shift. Charters, declarations and agendas had the merit of filtering down the international discourse on heritage, while more innovative approaches were arising. The UNESCO Historic Urban Landscape recommendation, offers a new angle from which to observe this process of change. The underlying argument of this article is that HUL can provide a platform to achieve greater sustainability in transforming historic sites in China, particularly in rural areas, overcoming, at the same time, the easy shortcut of the East–West discourse of difference in respect to heritage conservation. This is primarily due to the shifting focus from the materiality of heritage to its role in sustainable development with increasing attention on the role played by local communities. By presenting the proposal for the protection of the historic rural village of Shuang Wan in the Jiangsu Province, this paper aims to reflect on this shift showing its advantages but also some of the risks. These are inherent in a discourse of heritage in danger of legitimising mere pro-growth development approaches, if not accompanied by participatory practices considerate of the specific social reality of China.     

浅析瑞士的行政区划

瑞士是世界上典型的联邦制国家,长期以来在历史和文化等多种因素的共同作用下,瑞士的行政区划体系也有其独特之处。本文试就行政区划三大组成内容:地方行政建制、地方行政单位和行政区域分别加以分析,说明瑞士行政区划与语言分布有着较为密切的关系。     

环境保护与可持续发展中的社会问题——中加国际学术研讨会综述

如果不能实现社会公正,包括社会性别平等和代内代际公平,我们就不可能实现环境保护与可持续发展。本文对环境保护与可持续发展背景下社会公平的实现途径,如公众参与、生态补偿、文化适应、体制创新、健全法制、性别平等及解决三江源环境保护与可持续发展中社会问题的关键环节进行了梳理和评价。     

Power to the people: when culture works as a social catalyst in urban regeneration processes (and when it does not)

This article focuses upon the relationship between culture, urban regeneration schemes, and their impact on socio-cognitive assets – namely, social and human capital. It examines three major urban regeneration projects in the districts of Saint Michel (Montreal, Canada), Auburn (Sydney, Australia) and Bicocca (Milan, Italy), where culture has been invoked as a main transformational driver at the economic and socio-environmental levels, but with different approaches and results. Through comparative analysis, we develop a more general reflection on the social impact of culture-led urban transformation processes, questioning the actual role of cultural initiatives – particularly those related to the creation of new cultural facilities and the programming of big cultural flagship events – and participation as a means to improve the local social milieu. We find that a key role for social efficacy is played by projects’ capacity to elicit the commitment of residents through inclusive cultural participation, as opposed to instrumental top-down initiatives mainly addressing city and neighbourhood branding and real estate marketing purposes.     

城市更新中社会网络的保存和发展

本文介绍了城市居住社区中社会网络的内涵和意义,并阐述了以往几种城市改造形式对社会网络产生的影响。进而探讨实现社会网络保存和发展的城市更新有效形式,对城市更新中社区自建和渐进式小规模更新改造等形式的经验进行了回顾。提出应运用渐进式小规模有机更新改造,并借鉴规划师与居民双向交流、共同合作的经验,实现居住社区中社会网络的发展完善。最后本文以盱眙旧城改造为例,分析了城市更新改造中社会网络保存和发展的可行性。     

区域旅游可持续发展评价体系研究——以云南大理、丽江、西双版纳为例

本文按照影响并约束区域旅游可持续发展因素的层次关系,将区域旅游可持续发展评价指标分为3个体系:基础体系、协调体系和潜力体系;并应用这一模型对云南省的3个主要旅游目的地进行量化评估分析,从因素结构和发展阶段两个方面剖析了云南3个主要旅游目的地的旅游可持续发展状态和所处阶段.