6.1.4 Culture as the Fourth Pillar of the Sustaina...

6.1.4 Culture as the Fourth Pillar of the Sustainable Development

Some researchers and institutions suggest adding culture as one of the dimensions of sustainable development, because they believe concentrating on the environment, economy and society do not adequately explain the complexity of the contemporary world.In 1995, the World Commission of Culture and Development published the report Our Creative Diversity, which was a result of the UNESCO Decade of Cultural Development (1988-1997).This report claims that culture was acknowledged to play both an instrumental role in promoting economic progress and a constituent role as a desirable end in itself.^[6]Cultural sustainability has already been considered as an important aspect of sustainable development which can improve the economic, social and ecological development.

Therefore, in 2010, the Agenda 21 for Culture (A21C) and the United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) Executive Bureau passed the policy statement Culture: Fourth Pillar of Sustainable Development.^[7]Since that year, the content of sustainable development has included “the four interconnected domains, ecology, economics, politics and culture.”^[8]Cultural diversity was added as the new element of sustainability strategy, and became “one of the roots of development understood not simply in terms of economic growth, but also as a means to achieve a more satisfactory intellectual, emotional, moral and spiritual existence.”^[9](https://www.daowen.com)

Cultural sustainable development strategies require people not only to preserve the irreplaceable cultural heritage and keep the cultural diversity, but make full use of them in contemporary society, and develop them adapting to the needs of the future.We should coordinate cultural history, present development with future requirements to develop our cultural, economic, social and ecological environment, and leave room for growth.Cultural sustainability is a key significance for every aspect of development including heritage, becoming one of the most important issues for the world.