Unit 7
Sustainable Communities:
Natural and Cultural Heritage

At all levels of government, heritage policy increasingly deals with built, cultural, and natural heritage as inter-connected areas. In the past, Canada has tended to separate policies and practices of natural and cultural resource conservation, whereas these areas are more closely integrated in Europe and the United States. Nature itself is part of humanity’s cultural heritage, in that the human perspective on nature shapes ideas about it and in turn actions. And when we make policy about it, nature is defined socio-culturally—that is, in terms of its relevance to society’s purposes. Unit 7 focuses on the attempt to balance those purposes against the need to protect and conserve natural heritage.

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you should be able to:

1. Explain the interaction and relationship between environmental and cultural heritage phenomena.
2. Present a credible argument for the mutual benefit of environmental and cultural preservation.
3. Describe the role that ideologies about the relationship between nature and progress play in policy development.
4. Discuss the contribution of living heritage, cultural landscapes, and heritage regions to community economic development.