Culture is gradually emerging out of the realm of social sustainability and is being recognized as having a separate, distinct, and integral role in sustainable development. In 1995, UNESCO defined the cultural dimension of community development as being “the whole complex of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional features that characterize a society or social group. It includes not only the arts and letters, but also modes of life, the fundamental rights of the human being, value systems, traditions and beliefs.”

Cultural sustainability means change occurs in a way that respects cultural values. Discussions of sustainability must include an understanding of culture as well as of the place in which it occurs, so that community and geographic context is not ignored. Serious discussions of sustainability require detailed exploration of the particular complexities of each situation, and preservation of the environment and of culture must be balanced with considerations of current practices.

Related to this is important research that links markers of cultural continuity in First Nations communities with their rates of teenage suicide. Michael Chandler and Christopher Lalonde, in a June 1998 article in Transcultural Psychiatry, note the lower youth suicide rates in communities that actively preserve and rehabilitate their own cultures.

Within the sustainability field, culture is often discussed in terms of cultural capital, which goes beyond arts and heritage to encompass diverse traditions, values, place, and social history. The stock of cultural capital, both tangible and intangible, is what we inherit from past generations and what we will pass onto future generations. Overall, it leads to quality of life and better knowledge of ourselves.

From a policy perspective, the Government of Canada, Agenda 21 for Culture, and UNESCO’s Decade for Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014) encompass cultural development as related to social policy and goals such as fostering social inclusion, cultural diversity, rural diversity, rural revitalization, public housing, health, ecological preservation, and sustainable development.

Images left to right: Heritage Days Festival, Edmonton, AB; Jumping Trout by Violet Costello and Bob Thomasson, Calgary, AB; Festival International de l’Art Vocal, Trois-Rivières, QC (photo: Jean Chamberland); The Rooms, St. John’s, NL

Community development aims to strengthen the economy and the social ties within a community through locally based initiatives. The community development process is often characterized as a “triple bottom line” of amalgamating environmental, social, and economic well-being into a common audit. The bottom line is now expanding to include cultural well-being and good governance.

The central goals of community development rely on residents having the ability to express their values, be self-reliant, satisfy basic human needs, and have greater participation and accountability in their community. This is accomplished by education, citizen participation, consensus building, and access to information. Creating a sense of place in the community is central as it empowers residents to become decision-makers over their own environment, resources, and future.

Community development empowers communities to position local issues within a larger political context. An important aspect of community development is that it is not handed down from experts or governments.

Although community development strategies differ in their focus and approach from community to community, the underlying goal is to improve the quality of life of residents. According to the Centre for Sustainable Community Development at Simon Fraser University, approaches to community development include: identifying community challenges, locating local resources, analyzing local power structures and human needs, and acting on residents’ concerns in the community.

Community sustainability goes beyond environmental practices and economic growth: it is about creating a more just and equitable community through encouraging social and cultural diversity. It also requires the community to define sustainability from its own values and perspective. This involves community participation and a collective decision-making process that meets the social, cultural, environmental, and economic needs of the community.

Sustainable community development is a process of developing a local and self-reliant economy that does not damage the world’s ecosystem or the social well-being of communities. Residents in sustainable communities aim to combine policies and programs that satisfy multiple objectives.

>>>
Key Contexts 3/4