From Efficiency to Resilience : Systemic Change towards Sustainability after the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed the vulnerability of current socio-economic systems and thrown into question the dominant global paradigm geared towards short-term financial efficiency. Although it has been acknowledged for several decades that this paradigm has detrimental impacts on the climate, the environment and global welfare, the pandemic has now offered a grim ‘rehearsal round’ for more serious crises that are to come with the accelerating climate emergency, loss of biodiversity and growing human inequalities. Along with worsening climate change, there are looming risks for mass migrations and armed conflicts as habitats capable of supporting human wellbeing become scarce, such a…

How do community development activities affect the construction of rural places? : A case study from Finland

Community‐based development practices have been seen as the prevailing paradigm for rural development. Rural community development practices are employed especially through local non‐governmental organisations, such as village associations, to ensure that rural communities are vital and attractive places to live. In this article, we explore how community development practices affect and shape rural places. The data were collected in three Finnish villages that each have an active village association and that have adopted community development practices as their method of keeping their village viable. According to the results of our study, the impacts of community practices on rural places c…

Exploring the scientific discourse on cultural sustainability

Abstract There has been growing interest in policy and among scholars to consider culture as an aspect of sustainable development and even as a fourth pillar. However, until recently, the understanding of culture within the framework of sustainable development has remained vague. In this study, we investigate the scientific discourse on cultural sustainability by analyzing the diverse meanings that are applied to the concept in scientific publications. The analysis shows that the scientific discourse on cultural sustainability is organized around seven storylines: heritage, vitality, economic viability, diversity, locality, eco-cultural resilience, and eco-cultural civilization. These story…

Culture in, for and as sustainable development : conclusions from the COST Action IS1007 investigating cultural sustainability

Cultivating cultural sustainability in farming practices

The aim of this chapter is to explore agricultural practices and their sustainability, in order to analyse the essence and dynamics of culture in relation to sustainable development. We ask, what should sustain in culture and what does culturally sustainable development entail? We identified three core qualities of sustainability in farming: fertility, diversity and continuity. They are bound together and shaped by rationalization related to the feasible functioning of the farming system and appreciation judging the desirability and quality of the practices. We discuss the ways the model explaining the sustainability of agricultural practices can be used to inform the essence of culture in …