ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to connect some threads on culture and sustainable development and aims to explain why an Agenda 21 for Culture developed by cities and local governments is needed. The contents of Agenda 21 can be summarised thematically as follows: culture and human rights; culture and governance; culture, sustainability and territory; culture and social inclusion; and culture and economy. The vitality of the cultural offering of a given city is partly conditioned by the possibilities of implementing public cultural policies. The document Advice on local implementation of Agenda 21 for Culture mainly deals with the governance of culture on a local level and provides general recommendations that may be useful to any local government worldwide that wishes to adopt Agenda 21. Agenda 21 for Culture is probably the main contribution that has been made by cities thus far to the process of placing the relationship between human rights, culture, sustainable development and democracy at the centre of their society.
