Approaches to a cultural footprint. Proposal for the concept and ways to measure it

This study, conducted by Elna Roig and Jordi Baltà, proposes to discuss the concept of 'cultural footprint' and examines its political implications. It focuses on protecting and promoting cultural and linguistic diversity in Europe. The notion of 'cultural footprint' appears as an analogy to 'ecological footprint', used since the 1990s to measure the impact of human action on natural resources and on ecosystems' capacity to regenerate necessary resources for continuity of life.

Despite differences between the preservation of biological diversity or biodiversity, and cultural diversity, importing the idea of the "ecological footprint' to a cultural context also means reasserting the importance of culture (in all its different tangible and intangible senses) to sustainable human development.

Approaches to a cultural footprint is a first step towards developing efective cultural policy impact assessment.