Role of culture in sustainable development and sustainable built environment: a review

The mutual and interdependent link between the economic, social and environmental pillars forms the basis for sustainable development. In recent years, culture is also identified as an essential pillar in achieving sustainable development. However, a comprehensive review of published literature revealed limited studies which provide an overview of culture in sustainable development and the sustainable built environment. This study attempts to provide an overview of culture in sustainable development and the sustainable built environment by reviewing various reports of United Nations, sustainable development models, existing Green Building Rating Systems and published research. A generic set of cultural indicators and their benefits in the sustainable built environment are summarized based on bibliometric and comprehensive literature review. The study reveals several benefits of incorporating cultural elements into building design, such as improved cultural interactions, creating a sense of place, protecting place character, efficient use of energy and resources, creating job opportunities for local people, improved affordability and sustainable behavioral change. The identified generic cultural indicators act as a primary reference to develop context-specific cultural indicators while developing/enhancing building assessment/rating systems. The study outcome would also serve as a vital reference while developing region-specific design policies. The study concludes that consideration of culture as a fourth dimension is essential to accomplish sustainable development. The study recommends further investigation in the research domain to understand, develop and validate region-specific indicators for culture in the sustainable built environment and opens up the scope for future research.

Automated summary

This study highlights the importance of culture in sustainable development and the built environment, showcasing the various benefits that incorporating cultural elements into building design can bring. Culture is considered a vital fourth dimension to achieve sustainable development, and further research is recommended to understand and develop region-specific cultural indicators for the built environment.