The Fourth Pillar of Sustainability: Culture's Essential Role in Public Planning

The Fourth Pillar provides a clear definition of culture, analyses its function within the emerging new planning paradigms, and proposes practical measures for the integration of a cultural perspective into the public sphere. The key conclusion of this work is that a whole-of-government cultural framework, operating in parallel with social, environmental and economic frameworks, is essential for the achievement of a sustainable and healthy society.



Cultural vitality is as essential to a healthy and sustainable society as social equity, environmental responsibility and economic viability. In order for public planning to be more effective, its methodology should include an integrated framework of cultural evaluation along similar lines to those being developed for social, environmental and economic impact assessment.