Local Heritage and Sustainability

Dear Colleagues,

The United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, held in Stockholm in 1972, discussed the definition of a healthy and vibrant environment when using the advanced concept of sustainable development. Subsequently, in 1987, the World Committee on Environment and Development (WCED) published Our Common Future and officially defined the concept of sustainable development. The term extensively addresses the global economic, social, environmental and cultural development dimensions associated with this concept.
Based on the Stockholm and other UN initiatives related to sustainable development, scholars are asked to pay attention to those places of cultural and natural heritage that are under threat because of years of natural damage and the impacts of economic and social change. Considering the damage or disappearance of cultural and natural heritage, UNESCO formally adopted the Convention on the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage in 1972.  It was a call for the international community to protect the cultural and natural heritage of places that have an outstanding universal value, as well as the establishment of a modern scientific approach to study sustainable systems. Because of this initiative, the protection and use of the world's cultural and natural heritage has aroused the attention of scholars and wider public communities.
With advances in globalization, local people in many cultural and economic settings face the impacts of world culture due to their local geographical and cultural boundaries. On the one hand, they are forced by economic growth pressure, and local tradition often gives way to modern pop culture and loses its inherent uniqueness. On the other hand, unique local culture is very often very-closely related to the natural environment, traditional values, memory and daily life. There is often also a spiritual motivation for local development that reflects values associated with sustainable development. More people are beginning to recognize that modernization should not abandon traditional local cultures.
Accordingly, the protection and usage of local heritage is an important issue of sustainable development. In nearly half a century, scholars of various disciplines, including geographers, sociologists, historians, and legal research scholars, have explored the relationships between local heritage and sustainable development, as well as the homogeneity and heterogeneity of local heritage and World Heritage in different cultural settings. In order to enhance our mutual understanding about local heritage and sustainability interrelationships, we invite scholars from interdisciplinary fields to submit a manuscript for this Special Issue. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

• International dialogue on local culture studies

• The relationship between local heritage and world heritage

• The local heritage and sustainable development: case studies

• other related topics

Prof. Dr. Baoxiu Zhang
Prof. Dr. Shangyi Zhou
Prof. Dr. Jingqiu Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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