Cultural Sustainability in Danish Community Health Centres

This study conceptualises the emerging notion of cultural sustainability in the context of health and healthcare and examines how the concept may be translated into healthcare practice. It situates cultural sustainability within broader debates on sustainability and examines its relationship to the established environmental, economic, and social dimensions of sustainability. Drawing on empirical material from the Danish healthcare sector, the study analyses how cultural sustainability is articulated and operationalised in healthcare settings.

Based on semi-structured interviews with regional and municipal stakeholders working in Community Health Centres, the analysis explores cultural dimensions of healthcare practices, including interdisciplinary collaboration, teamwork, and organisational coherence. The findings highlight the importance of communication, role clarity, shared organisational culture, and professional identities as key components of cultural sustainability. Overall, the study demonstrates that cultural sustainability plays a cross-cutting role in shaping healthcare practices, workplace environments, and quality of care across organisational and institutional contexts.