Developing a new understanding of the cultural relationships of humans with nature through heritage and tradition, this book examines ways of transforming these relationships sustainably, and assesses the impact on policy-related actions for ecologically embedded futures, drawing particularly on case studies from the European north. The book opens up fresh perspectives, drawing on current debates in multispecies studies and bringing together approaches from environmental activism to community art practice and critical heritage studies. Focussing on ecological relationships underpinning the making of meaningful places, it combines theoretical exploration with case studies that raise themes, issues and eco-cultural practices that have relevance across the world. Contributors evaluate intangible cultural heritage and traditional ecological knowledge for their potential to augment sustainable development, thus encouraging the rethinking of sustainability as a human-ecological concept indicating how new, locally rooted relationships with nature may create policy-oriented pathways towards cultural sustainability transformation. Creative Perspectives on Sustainable Nature-Culture Relationships provides new insights to both professionals and students in the fields of sustainability studies, involving human ecology, geography, landscape studies, cultural anthropology, cultural heritage studies, art, archaeology, performance, literature, linguistics, futures research, philosophy and beyond.
