Beyond Nostalgia: Cultural Heritage as Disruptive Infrastructure for Sustainable Development

This study reconceptualises cultural heritage from a passive symbol of memory to an active and disruptive infrastructure capable of shaping alternative pathways to sustainable development. Moving beyond preservationist paradigms, it examines how heritage can be mobilised to advance ecological justice, spatial governance and socio-economic transformation, particularly in global South contexts. Drawing on comparative case evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa, the study analyses how communities strategically deploy heritage through legal, cultural and technological mechanisms to contest extractive development models and reconfigure sustainability practices. The findings reveal that cultural heritage operates as a dynamic and politicised force, enabling new forms of climate resilience, land rights advocacy, cultural economies and environmental stewardship. At the same time, the study identifies critical tensions, including the reproduction of internal inequalities related to gender, class and digital access, as well as the risk of co-option within technocratic and market-driven systems. Conceptually, the paper advances the notion of heritage-as-agency, contributing to post-development theory and sustainability transitions by positioning heritage as a catalyst for institutional transformation and plural development futures.