ABSTRACT

Meeting the aims of sustainability is becoming increasingly difficult; at the same time, the call for culture is becoming more powerful. This book explores the relationships between culture, sustainability and regional change through the concept of ‘territorialisation’. This new concept describes the dynamics and processes in the context of regional development, driven by collective human agency that stretches beyond localities and marked-off regional boundaries.

This book launches the concept of ‘territorialisation’ by exploring how the natural environment and culture are constitutive of each other. This concept allows us to study the characterisation of the natural assets of a place, the means by which the natural environment and culture interact, and how communities assign meaning to local assets, add functions and ascribe rules of how to use space. By highlighting the time-space dimension in the use and consumption of resources, territorialisation helps to frame the concept and grasp the meaning of sustainable regional development. Drawing on an international range of case studies, the book addresses both conceptual issues and practical applications of ‘territorialisation’ in a range of contexts, forms, and scales.

The book will be of great interest to researchers and postgraduates in sustainable development, environmental studies, and regional development and planning.

chapter 1|16 pages

Introduction

The role of culture in territorialisation

chapter 2|12 pages

‘Sustainable places'

Place as a vector of culture. Two cases from Mexico

chapter 3|14 pages

Territorialisation and the assemblage of rural place

Examples from Canada and New Zealand

chapter 4|16 pages

The worldview and symbolic dimension in territorialisation

How human values play a role in a Dutch neighbourhood

chapter 5|14 pages

Nature and culture in territorialisation processes

Challenges and insights from a case study in Serbia

chapter 6|21 pages

Territoriality as appropriation of space

How ‘engaging with space' frames sociality

chapter 8|17 pages

Territorialisation in practice

The case of saffron cultivation in Morocco

chapter 9|21 pages

Is there a place for place?

How spaces and places are included in the measures of sustainable development and well-being

chapter 10|16 pages

Making territory through cultural mapping and co-design

How community practices promote territorialisation

chapter 11|14 pages

How to scale a territory

Experiences from the United States

chapter 15|16 pages

Les jardins partagés in Paris

Cultivating space, community and sustainable way of life

chapter 16|14 pages

A ‘European Valley' in South America

Regionalisation, colonisation and environmental inequalities in Santa Catarina, Brazil

chapter 17|11 pages

Conclusion

Territorialisation, a challenging concept for framing regional development