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Other Activities

 

 

Other activities conducted in and by the network

 

 


International course for Master Students on Cultural Sustainability 

In April 2014, a pilot for an international online course on ‘Cultural Sustainability’ was carried out. The course examined the interrelated dimensions of sustainability and the concept of development. It brought together lecturers and students from various backgrounds in interdisciplinary discussions about how culture, power and ecology interact in human-environment relations. The course critically investigated the challenges of achieving sustainability at local, regional and global scales, and the role of cultural policy. It highlighted both philosophical and conceptual issues surrounding the relationship of cultural sustainability and cultural policy, and engaged students in practical case studies, such as those involved in with urban planning and rural development.

The course – MCPS125 ‘Cultural Sustainability’ – is now established at the University of Jyväskylä (Finland) as part of the MA in Cultural Policy. It is unique internationally and addresses a need to consolidate current ideas on this rising topic within academic training programmes. Moreover it equips young scholars to question and address policy development issues in this area.

MCPS125 Cultural Sustainability (5 ECTS)

Learning outcomes: Students identify different and often conflicting cultural and disciplinary perspectives on sustainability and recognise the relationship between cultural sustainability and cultural policy. Students are able to critically assess different practical cases dedicated to improving cultural sustainability. Students gain improved oral and written communication skills in the context of working in interdisciplinary and international teams.

Content: The course examines the interrelated dimensions of sustainability and the concept of development. It brings together lecturers and students from various backgrounds in interdisciplinary discussions about how culture, power and ecology interact in human-environment relations. The course critically investigates the challenges of achieving sustainability at local, regional and global scales and the role of cultural policy. The course highlights both philosophical and conceptual issues surrounding the relationship of cultural sustainability and cultural policy. The course engages students in practical case studies, e.g. studies associated with conducting urban planning, rural development, etc.

Completion mode: Online course. The course is organised in collaboration with the partner universities of the COST Action “Investigating Cultural Sustainability” network. The course can also be completed by taking a book exam.

 

Training Schools


Training Schools were aimed to promote the research topic among young researchers, in particular PhD students working in the field. Two training schools were organised during the Action:

Place based approaches in the regional development focused on 

Processes of internationalisation and globalisation that have reordered political, e conomic and cultural relationships into global patterns and renewed the geographical scale of the region and its development.  This in turn has resulted in, among other, re-invention of cultural identities of people and places and  a renewed attention for the region and regional development both by policy makers and scientists. The PhD WinterSchool organised in February 2014 by ILVO, Ghent University, Agrifood Research Finland, University of Jyväskylä in collaboration with the COST Action focused on four themes related to the place-based development:

  • Governance, and the role of participation, in place based regional development
  • The role of spatial planning in place based regional development
  • The role of identity in place based regional development
  • Cities in regional development

 

The other training school was organised in conjunction with the Final Conference in Helsinki, May 2015. There were 24 PhD students presenting their work in the parallel research paper sessions. Read their reflections on the conference!

 

 Fostering the research planning and fund raising


The Research Strategy Group of the Action together with the Action members collected the research topics relevant for the future research agendas at the European level. The results of this work are presented in the Final Report. 

The RSG also mapped and examined the potential financiers at the EU and transnational levels within different domains, in order to stimulate planning and preparation of new research projects among the members, and to promote the topic of the Action. As a part of this process the RSG  organized a cross‐cutting research meeting in Brussels, 14th November, 2014 The Cultural Dimension of Sustainable Developmenton the European Research Agenda. The aim of the meeting was to present the Action to a number of relevant stakeholders, and to discuss and share ideas on how to bring the topic of culture into the European research and policy arena. In the meeting there were representatives of  organizations working at the transnational/EU level in the field of culture, sustainable development and/or science, and representatives of COST ISCH Domain. 

 

Organising International Workshops and Working Groups in other Conferences (e.g.)


International Conference

Culture and Sustainable Development at Times of Crisis, Belgrade, 27‐ 28 March 2014. (Dragićević Šešić, Rogač Mijatović).

Working groups in Conferences:

European Congress of Rural Sociology, Florence, Italy 28th July – 1st August, 2013

  • Place‐based approaches in regional development (Battaglini, Horlings, Dessein)
  • Exploring the essence of culture in the policies and practices of sustainable rural development (Soini, Dessein)


Conference of Cultural Memory, Skopje, Macedonia 4.‐6.9.2013.

  • Panel “The Faro Convention, a new paradigm for socially‐ and culturally‐sustainable heritage action (Fairclough, Auclair). Publication:

 

Conference of International Association for Tourism Policy, June 2013, Limassol, Cyprus.

  • Special session “Cultural Sustainability and Tourism Development”in  (Stylianou‐Lamber, Boukas)

 

 International Conference of Cultural Policy, Barcelona, July, 2012

  • “Investigating Culture, Cultural Policy, and Sustainable Development” (Chair: Nancy Duxbury, Discussant: Svetlana Hristova; Action members as paper presenters)

 

International Conference of Cultural Policy, Hildesheim, September 2014

  • Working group by Hristova, Dragićević Šešić, Duxbury

 

Collaboration with international stakeholders

 

United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG). UCLG is a global network of 350 cities, local governments and organizations and one of the key stakeholders promoting culture and sustainability in local policies. In 2004 UCLG approved Agenda 21 for culture (A21C), a tool to promote the role of culture in local policies. The Action has been in active dialogue with UCLG regarding A21C since the very beginning. Recently, this co‐operation has focused on how to better incorporate cultural aspects in the sustainable local policies in the new strategy of A21C. A report of this dialogue was published by UCLG in English, French and Spanish, and disseminated in the global networks of UCLG promoting the knowledge in this field.

Representatives of UNESCO have attended two of the workshops in order to exchange knowledge in this field.. Nancy Duxbury and Katriina Soini from the Action were invited to the UNESCO Congress in Hangzhou, China, May 2013: Culture: Key to Sustainable Development. They also presented the results of the Action in the ULCG Culture Summit in Bilbao, 18-20 March, 2015. 

Short Term Scientific Research Missions