The Sentier des Lauzes, a cultural hiking trail in the Monts d'Ardèche Natural Regional Park in France
Photo: Bettina Scharrer, CDE
This project is a comparative analysis of the significance of culture for the success of development processes, using the example of integrated protected areas. It analyses the meaning of cultural aspects of sustainable regional and landscape development (SRLD). It seeks to demonstrate why SRLD should be included as a fourth dimension of sustainable development in addition to the current three dimensions (economic, social, and environmental). The project develops different understandings of culture in the framework of sustainable development and the meaning of culture for SRLD, especially in protected areas.
Stage production in the ruin of Riom Castle at the Origen Festival of Culture in the Grisons, Switzerland
Photo: Bettina Scharrer, CDE
This project is a comparative analysis of the significance of culture for the success of development processes, using the example of integrated protected areas. It analyses the meaning of cultural aspects of sustainable regional and landscape development (SRLD). It seeks to demonstrate why SRLD should be included as a fourth dimension of sustainable development in addition to the current three dimensions (economic, social, and environmental). The project develops different understandings of culture in the framework of sustainable development and the meaning of culture for SRLD, especially in protected areas.
Cultural aspects can be of great importance for local and regional sustainable development processes.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Case studies are conducted in large-scale integrated protected areas in various European countries which adhere to SRLD goals or carry out SRLD projects. By selecting these particular areas as case studies, the project aims to contribute to the debate in Switzerland and in the EU on opportunities and limits faced by large-scale protected areas in promoting SRLD. The project is supported by the State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI) and carried out in the framework of the European COST Action IS1007 “Investigating Cultural Sustainability”.
Project duration: 2012-2015
