The Scientific Council of the Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO), at its session held on February 27, 2024, approved the establishment of the center of excellence CSDC – Center for Sustainable Development through Culture. The Center is being established as part of the BORE project – Essence and Colors of Sustainable Regional Development in the Republic of Croatia.
Through the establishment of the Center for Sustainable Development through Culture (CSDC), structural conditions are being created for continuous scientific work on researching the role of culture in sustainable development, as well as the sustainability of culture. The primary research goal within the Center is to demonstrate the importance of culture for general social development through its instrumental values and its role in addressing social issues, as well as its own sustainability through the intrinsic values of culture. This potentially brings about a more significant valorization of culture in public policies for sustainable development, which implies the development and testing of new concepts for ensuring the sustainability of culture, as well as new development models in culture.
In addition to cooperation within the Department for Resource Economics, Environmental Protection and Regional Development (e.g. green heritage topics, social entrepreneurship, regional development, tourism etc.), the Center acts as an “anchor” that connects (through common topics) the Department for Culture and Communication (e.g., cultural policies, culture and education, participatory governance and management in culture); the Department for European Integration (e.g., social entrepreneurship and social innovations, preparation and implementation of EU projects/tenders); the Department for International Economic and Political Affairs (e.g., international relations in culture). In addition to the above, the Center cooperates with other IRMO Centers (e.g., topics in culture and migrations, creative industries etc.).
