Cultural sustainability in urban third places: Assessing the impact of 'Co-operation in Science and Technology' in cultural third places

Abstract

Cultural sustainability, as a fourth dimension and independent aspect of sustainable development, has gained acceptance and has become an essential constituent of sustainable urban planning. The European Co-operation in Science and Technology (COST) integrated culture as a critical component and identified its three main roles: 'IN', FOR', 'AS' to achieve sustainable development goals. The new concept in urban design, namely the 'Third Place', seeks to include culture in integrated sustainability planning of urban spaces to support sociability and place attachment. Based on the (COST Action), the research aims to explore the three roles of culture in sustainable development (SD), and to develop a theoretical framework for cultural sustainability in the urban third place. The framework is applied to a selected urban third place (Briggate Street) in Leeds, UK, to test the validity of the extracted criteria and indicators. Visual surveys and interviews helped determine users' perceptions. The research concluded the critical role of cultural sustainability as part of the urban third place and the importance of the survey, which is clearly expressed in the cultural continuity s high results when compared to the lowest results of cultural vitality and behavioral shift of users. Finally, the research suggests a number of recommendations to improve the quality of urban third places and achieve cultural well-being while sustaining the cultural heritage of these places.