Cultural Heritage and the Challenge of Sustainability

For cultural and heritage institutions around the world, sustainability is the major challenge of the twenty-first century. In the first major work to analyse this critical issue, Barthel-Bouchier argues that programmatic commitments to sustainability arose both from direct environmental threats to tangible and intangible heritage, and from social and economic contradictions as heritage developed into a truly global organisational field.

Drawing on extensive fieldwork and interviews over many years, as well as detailed coverage of primary documents and secondary literature, she examines key international organisations including UNESCO, ICOMOS, and the World Monuments Fund, as well as national trust organisations of Great Britain, the United States, and Australia, among many others.

This wide-ranging study establishes a foundation for critical analysis and programmatic advances as heritage professionals encounter the growing challenge of sustainability.