Archaeology and nature: hyblean cultural landscape and territorial ...

Recognizing Cultural Heritage for Social Sustainability: A Spirit of Place
Perspective
Juliana FORERO, Liangping HONG 1
(1) School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan,
China
Abstract
This article discusses how through the acknowledgement of the spirit of the place for cultural heritage
preservation, within the social sustainability context, it is possible to achieve sustainable development
processes. After a brief review of these theories, the analysis of the creation of the urban park Mirador de los
Nevados for the renewal of the downtown of the district of Suba in Bogotá - Colombia, give some ideas on
how the link between social sustainability and cultural heritage preservation, can bring up a set of processes
and practices for the enhancement of sustainable cultural and urban heritage preservation, without leaving
aside the environmental and economic elements.
Keywords: cultural heritage, spirit of place, social sustainability, sustainable development
1. Introduction
Theories for Sustainable development principal dimensions –economic, environmental and socio-cultural-
have not been equally developed and thus their relationship remains unclear. Academic and political
approximations have generally been limited to economic and environmental sustainability, while literature
about social sustainability is still inchoate. Indeed, social sustainability is still an under-theorized and
oversimplified concept. Nonetheless, in the recent years, social sustainability has been slowly recognized as
a fundamental component of sustainable development. Consequently, it has started to play an increasing
role in urban planning and to be included in the governments’ agenda (9) (23).
Urban cultural heritage is an essential element of city sustainable development. Nevertheless, research
concerning the relationship between sustainable development and urban cultural heritage plays almost no
role in social sustainability debates (34). Most studies ignore the social function of the cultural heritage and
focus on two main fields: sustainable tourism and environmental degradation affects on material heritage;
other studies list monuments, buildings and conservation areas, implying that the worthiness of cultural
heritage only relates to the tangible objects (33).
To find new ways to interpret the relationship between cultural heritage and sustainable development, the
debates regarding cultural heritage should be framed into the social sustainability studies. From this
perspective the importance of the social function of cultural heritage would be recognized not only in the
theory but also in the practice, while at the same time it would be a tool for the social sustainability
development. The Spirit of Place theory, which embraces the essential categories for heritage studies -
identity, memory and territory- and its sustainability, offer a model to integrate cultural heritage into
sustainable development paradigm.
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