Perspectives on cultural heritage and development

The event will take place on 10 October 2023 between 10.30am and 1pm, with a short break.

Refreshments will be available for those joining us in person and the event will be followed by a light lunch.

The event will be live captioned and will be filmed.

Concepts 

Culture on purpose: sustainable development opportunities for culture

by Ben Sandbrook 

Ben Sandbrook of World Pencil writes about Culture on Purpose, or the deliberate deployment and harnessing of culture in relation to major societal challenges. Sandbrook looks at the question ‘what are the challenges and opportunities in the world, and what help, if any, could culture provide in responding to those?’ and identifies major challenges and opportunities which culture can address across the economy, education, health, wellbeing and other areas.  

Cultural heritage for inclusive growth  

by John Samuel, Abraham George and Pallavi Rachel George

Samuel, George and George discuss ‘inclusive growth’ as a concept and situate it with reference to the failure of development models based on trickle-down economics and the Washington Consensus. 

The role of cultural awareness and participation in sustainable development 

by Leandro Valiati

Leandro Valiati is a lecturer in Arts & Cultural Management at the University of Manchester. In his essay, he discusses the relationship between participation in cultural activities and wellbeing, especially in disadvantaged areas. Valiati provides a theoretical argument for looking beyond contribution to GDP as a measure of the value of culture and for considering other indicators associated with human development and the enhancement of people’s capabilities and freedoms.  

 

Principles and Approaches 

People-centred approaches to cultural heritage and sustainable development

by Anne Torreggiani and Sophia Woodley

Anne Torreggiani and Sophia Woodley of the Audience Agency look at the philosophy and practice of People-centred Approaches to Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development. They review the use of people-centred approaches in a variety of contexts around the world. From there, they identify the defining characteristics of people-centred working and key lessons relating to good practice.  

Governance principles for inclusive heritage 

by James Doeser

James Doeser - a freelance researcher, writer and consultant – writes about Governance Principles for Inclusive Heritage. He uses the UN-Habitat’s New Urban Agenda (NUA) as a starting point for exploring how to embed cultural heritage in sustainable development and connects the NUA with the wider trends in global policy. He concludes that a practical synergy is possible between current discourses in the fields of heritage and development and argues that this synergy can be achieved by adopting a series of governance principles. 

Narrating heritage: oral history and inclusive growth

by Suzanne Joinson

Suzanne Joinson’s essay Narrating Heritage looks at the relationship between oral history and inclusive growth. In her essay, she provides an overview of oral history as a discipline and practice. From this body of evidence and experience, she draws conclusions about the connections between and opportunities for oral history and people-centred, community-led development.

 

Case Studies 

Pedro Affonso Ivo Franco, a Brazilian researcher and consultant who is based in Germany and works across the cultural, creative and development sectors, presents two case studies – one from Brazil and one from Germany – exploring the participatory governance of heritage and development from two different perspectives, one community led and the other institution-led. 

 

Conclusion  

Cultural heritage, self determination and community development

by Chris Dalglish

In his conclusion to the essay collection, Chris identifies the threads that run through the essays and bind the collection together to distinguish it as a contribution to the wider body of knowledge and thought on cultural heritage and sustainable development.

Three overarching conclusions emerge from the collection as a whole: 

Cultural heritage is at the heart of human development. 

The fulfilment of people’s right to cultural life is an essential part of sustainable development because cultural life, in all its forms, is essential to human wellbeing and dignity.  

Cultural relations create conditions for human development.  

Cultural relations activities bring people together within the space of culture and civil society to build relationships based on the principle of mutuality. They serve sustainable development by creating trust, understanding and sustained cooperation and promoting peace, justice and tolerance.  

Alongside the evidence for what works, analysis of how it works is critical to the spread of good practice.  

Analysis of how positive change has been achieved in particular circumstances can generate learning which is of wider relevance. Rather than rigidly copying particular models and methods, the focus should be on identifying the underlying principles which characterise successful and ethical human development processes.  

The essays in this collection were originally commissioned by the British Council and Nordicity, as independent thematic studies during the pilot phase of the Cultural Heritage for Inclusive Growth programme. They have since been updated by their authors and edited for the British Council by Inherit.

Cultural Heritage for Inclusive Growth is a British Council action research programme which, since 2018, has been exploring ways in which local culture can improve the lives of individuals around the world. 

The essays are published as part of the British Council’s What Works Cultural Heritage Protection programme which is designed to support better outcomes for cultural heritage protection and local communities by bringing the best available evidence and learning to practitioners and other decision makers across the international heritage protection sector.

Inherit

Inherit — the York Archaeology's Institute for Heritage & Sustainable Human Development — supports community development through cultural heritage. Inherit helps people to safeguard their heritage, sustain it and transmit it to future generations. They provide practical support to communities so that they can fulfil their cultural rights and use their heritage for the collective good. They carry out purposeful research and advocate evidence-based policy change which enables people to sustain their heritage and achieve their development goals. Inherit works with communities, non-profit organisations, public bodies and experts around Europe, the Mediterranean and Asia.