Click the star to add/remove an item to/from your individual schedule.
You need to be logged in to avail of this functionality.
Log in
- Convenor:
-
Ian Thomas
(The British Council)
Send message to Convenor
- Discussants:
-
Kai Brennert
(edgeandstory)
Sofya Shahab (Institute of Development Studies)
- Format:
- Paper panel
- Stream:
- The Future of Development Studies
- Location:
- CB3.9, Chancellor's Building
- Sessions:
- Friday 27 June, -, -
Time zone: Europe/London
Short Abstract
In a fragmented global policy landscape, marked by multifaceted crisis, culture and heritage has the power to help reshape public policy and locally led development
Description
Culture is integral to who we are and how we view and shape the world. It is key for diverse and inclusive societies to flourish and for enabling us to imagine different futures. Cultural practitioners are responding to the complex challenges we face from climate change to LGBTQIA+ rights. Through their work, we can connect and empathise with others, challenge perceptions and re-envision the world around us and our role within it.
There are multiple perspectives on what role culture can or should play in development, particularly in the post-2030 agenda:
- Mondiacult Declaration classified culture as a ‘global public good’, reinforcing culture’s position in the global development discourse.
- UN Pact for the Future through Action 11: We will protect and promote culture and sport as integral components of sustainable development.
- Missing Pillar report The British Council sought to position culture as a missing pillar in the wider debate of culture’s role in the processes of development.
Questions for the panel: -
• What are the dangers and opportunities of doing development with/out culture as a foundation?
• What roles can culture play within development plans and visions which have been shaped by deepening and pervasive crises and uncertainty?
• Who talks and - who doesn’t - about culture in sustainable development? What ideas are being favoured, and what rationales tend to dominate?
• How do we build systemic alliances between the cultural sector and with the development community which can contribute to new opportunities for positive change?
Accepted papers
Session 1 Friday 27 June, 2025, -Paper short abstract
The role of cultural leadership and heritage narratives in addressing sustainable development in Scotland, Norway, Estonia, and the Czech Republic. It examines how culture integrates into sustainability discourses, highlights leadership challenges, and identifies pathways for future action.
Paper long abstract
This paper examines the critical role of cultural leadership and cultural heritage narratives in addressing sustainable development across four European UNESCO sites: Scotland, Norway, Estonia, and the Czech Republic. Grounded in findings from the JPI-AHRC-funded CULTIVATE project and a Clore AHRC fellowship, the research highlights culture as both a driver and a reflection of sustainability challenges.
While the culture/nature divide is well established in academic discourse, our research shows that place-based cultural narratives—shaped by socio-economic, historical, and ecological contexts—are vital for addressing sustainability. However, integrating these narratives into broader sustainability discourses faces challenges, including resource limitations, technological disruption, erosion of local identities by global cultural homogenisation, and the reinforcement of existing power structures through cultural practices.
The research also identifies the potential of cultural leadership to mediate these challenges by reframing sustainability in ways that resonate with local communities. However, findings reveal that cultural leadership often prioritises the preservation of identity over proactive engagement in sustainability transitions. This paper argues that cultural leaders need to harness heritage as a transformative tool for envisioning sustainable futures. By connecting cultural practices with the pressing issues of local and place-based sustainable development, this study offers new insights into how cultural heritage can serve as a foundation for localised yet globally significant sustainability strategies.
Paper short abstract
Exploration of how cultural heritage can be employed to engage non-state armed groups in conflict zones. By analysing NSAG motivations—ranging from destruction to protective stewardship—it highlights case studies and strategies for fostering trust, reducing risks, and promoting sustainable peace.
Paper long abstract
Cultural heritage plays a dual role in conflict zones: it can be both a target and a catalyst for dialogue. This paper examines how heritage can be leveraged to engage non-state armed groups (NSAGs), exploring the diverse motivations behind their actions, from ideological destruction to protective stewardship. Using insights from recent research, the paper highlights how tailored approaches to NSAG engagement can transform cultural heritage into an entry point for trust-building and peace-building.
Case studies from conflict-affected regions, such as Syria, Mali, and Afghanistan, reveal how NSAGs' attitudes toward heritage are shaped by factors like ideology, external influences, and local community ties. These examples demonstrate how cultural heritage initiatives—ranging from documentation to collaborative protection—have created opportunities for constructive dialogue and reduced the risk of destruction.
The paper also addresses the challenges of working with NSAGs, including risks of legitimisation, contested narratives, and the vulnerability of heritage sites.
The paper will explore potential actions for leveraging the benefits of cultural heritage protection for NSAG engagement. By positioning cultural heritage within global peacebuilding frameworks, the paper argues for its integration into policy and practice, demonstrating its potential to foster resilience, trust, and long-term stability in conflict zones.
Paper short abstract
This paper examines the intersection of adaptive reuse, water management, and community resilience in regions facing acute water scarcity. By exploring case studies from Texas, the study highlights innovative urban strategies that integrate cultural heritage to foster sustainable development.
Paper long abstract
The global water crisis poses significant challenges to urban sustainability, particularly in regions with rapidly depleting aquifers and fragile ecosystems. This paper investigates the potential of adaptive reuse as a transformative approach to address these challenges. By repurposing industrial heritage sites, we propose integrating water management practices that prioritize ecological and community resilience.
Focusing on comparative case studies in Texas (Ogallala Aquifer) and Iran, the research delves into the socio-environmental impacts of water scarcity and the role of culturally sensitive urban design. The study utilizes GIS mapping, historical analysis, and community engagement methods to uncover spatial and cultural dynamics influencing water resource planning.
Through an interdisciplinary lens, this paper explores:
1. The role of adaptive reuse in preserving industrial heritage while addressing contemporary challenges.
2. Innovative hydrological systems that integrate with urban design.
3. Community-led initiatives fostering resilience and equity in water-scarce regions.
The findings aim to contribute to ongoing discourse on sustainable development by offering replicable models that bridge ecological preservation, cultural heritage, and socio-economic equity. This research underscores the importance of collaborative strategies to transform urban landscapes in the face of environmental and social crises.
Paper short abstract
Within Tibetan communities’ entangled historical, political, and cultural context on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP), NGOs created a buffer zone for establishing Han-Tibetan consensus on ecological issues.
Paper long abstract
In recent decades, climate change has significantly threatened the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau’s (QTP) ecological stability. Meanwhile, China’s increased engagement in international affairs has shifted its Western Development Campaign towards sustainable development priorities. Furthermore, its claim to consolidate its political leadership legitimacy in the QTP region has led to greater attention being paid to the pollution problems associated with urbanization and the development of the tourism economy in the QTP region. In response, the Chinese government has begun to promote the construction of cultural ecosystem services, including national parks and other ecological protection facilities. This inadvertently coincides with the indigenous Tibetan advocacy of ‘Green Tibetan’ based on their traditional religious beliefs and culture to protect the natural 'sacred lands’, and has received a cooperative response from the Tibetan community.
Considering the complex historical political issues in the QTP Tibetan Autonomous Region and the long-standing concern of internal orientalism in the cultural exchanges between the Han and Tibetan communities, the Han-Tibetan consensus reached in the current QTP ecological conservation discourse deserves in-depth investigation. Through a critical review of the interactions between indigenous Tibetan communities on QTP and Han Chinese environmentalists in the field of ecological conservation and development in the QTP region, this paper argues that local Chinese NGOs, especially grassroots NGOs, have played an important role in re-producing ethnocultural knowledge and integrating consensus on ecological conservation. This paper aims to provide a more nuanced perspective on NGOs’ cooperation function in intercultural ecological conservation.
Paper short abstract
Five years after authoring The Missing Pillar, Nordicity discusses the relevance of the SDG framework for bridging the gap between culture and development, in light of the updated Missing Foundation report.
Paper long abstract
Five years ago, the British Council partnered with Nordicity to examine culture’s contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals. Through a mapping exercise, Nordicity identified the 11 SDGs targeted by the British Council’s programming and produced 8 thematic case studies (through specialist advisors), leading to the Missing Pillar report.
The core objectives were to understand how a wide range of approaches to arts and cultural programming contribute to the SDGs, and to illustrate the difficulty in evidencing impact of longitudinal arts and cultural investment. We examined the potential entry points to developing a sustainable framework for programme design and implementation, and to enable an easier aggregation of evaluative data to accommodate donor requirements.
We developed recommendations for incorporating the SDGs into British Council programme development, as well as M&E processes to measure its contribution going forward. The report also encouraged the wider culture sector to adopt the language of the SDGs in hopes of mainstreaming advocacy and standardised monitoring across the cultural sector. Of deep interest was to consider how our findings may contribute to wider cultural policy agendas, providing a space for stronger engagement and collaboration, and ensuring culture was at the Agenda 2030 table.
The follow up Missing Foundation report, authored by edgeandstory, analysed the progress towards these recommendations. In this presentation, Nordicity dialogues with the Missing Foundation to discuss the pragmatic use of the SDG framework, as encountered in our work in the past five years, to build more sustainable and systemic alliances with development policy makers.
Paper short abstract
Biocultural approaches to conservation uplift local culture as a foundation for protecting global biodiversity, but new opportunities and contradictions emerge as biocultural initiatives begin to receive large-scale funding from multilateral donors.
Paper long abstract
Culture and nature are increasingly understood as interconnected (Maffi, 2005; Pascual et al., 2023), yet culture has been historically neglected in discourses on sustainable development. This is particularly true for environmental conservation, where conservationists traditionally sought to preserve ‘pristine’ nature without people (Brockington et al., 2008). More recently, biocultural diversity is re-emerging as a lens which understands culture and nature as intertwined and interdependent (Bridgewater and Rotherham, 2018), and there is growing focus on the role that biocultural approaches could play in addressing sustainable development issues (Merçon et al., 2019; Reyes-García et al., 2023).
Alongside academic developments, the role of culture is increasingly recognised in global conservation policy and practice, particularly through commitments to Indigenous peoples and local communities. The Global Biodiversity Framework brings together issues of addressing biodiversity loss, restoring ecosystems, and protecting Indigenous rights as key priorities (UNEP, 2022), while global-scale investments like the Global Environment Facility’s Inclusive Conservation Initiative (ICI) are providing direct financing to Indigenous peoples to strengthen their stewardship over biodiverse landscapes and seascapes (ICI, 2024).
This paper explores the opportunities and contradictions encountered when biocultural approaches – valued for their place-based and culturally relevant attributes – become funded through multilateral donor organisations. Exploring the ICI project as a case study, I draw attention to the ways that aspects of culture may find themselves restricted or reshaped in conservation initiatives to meet expectations or requirements of global funders, reinforcing calls for better attention to power in biocultural approaches for sustainable development (Merçon et al., 2019).