Table Of ContentThe Sustainable Museum
The Sustainable Museum is the first book to outline a coherent strategy for
the direction of museums, as it relates to sustainability in the museum and
heritage sector.
Arguing that museums must place sustainability at the centre of all their
activities, if they are to become key actors with a clear societal role, Garthe
considers the issues that museums will likely face as they take on their new
roles. Presenting case studies from a wide range of museums around the
world, the book considers different ways of implementing sustainability in
different types and sizes of institutions. Whilst the book clearly outlines the
need for change, it also provides guidance about how to change. Garthe does
this by considering specific concepts and approaches to sustainability in rela-
tion to the different aspects of museum operations. The book includes a
hands-on manual for implementing sustainability management in a museum,
whilst also considering the challenges practitioners will encounter and
considering what the future of the sustainable museum might look like.
The Sustainable Museum will be essential reading for museum and herit-
age professionals around the globe. The book will also be of interest to aca-
demics and students engaged in the study of museums, arts and cultural
management, business administration, change management or sustainable
development.
Christopher J. Garthe is creative director and consultant for sustainability in
museums and exhibitions. For museums, visitor centres and science centres
he develops exhibitions related to sustainable topics and supports them to
achieve a sustainable operation. He has studied geography, landscape ecology
and regional planning in Hanover, Germany and Grenoble, France, adult
education and lifelong learning as well as journalism in Berlin, Germany and
received his PhD on education and tourism in protected areas. Since 2009, he
has been working at studio klv in Berlin/Freiburg, Germany and is active as
a lecturer, author and speaker on sustainability in the cultural sector.
Routledge Guides to Practice in Museums, Galleries and Heritage
This series provides essential practical guides for those working in museums,
galleries, and a variety of other heritage professions around the globe.
Including authored and edited volumes, the series will help to enhance
practitioners’ and students’ professional knowledge and will also encourage
sharing of best practices between different countries, as well as between
different types and sizes of organisations.
Titles published in the series include:
Applying for Jobs and Internships in Museums
A Practical Guide
Martha Schloetzer
Welcoming Young Children into the Museum
A Practical Guide
Sarah Erdman and Nhi Nguyen with Margaret Middleton
Museums and Interactive Virtual Learning
Allyson Mitchell, Tami Moehring and Janet Zanetis
The Sustainable Museum
How Museums Contribute to the Great Transformation
Christopher J. Garthe
Museums and Well-being
Rose Cull and Daniel Cull
A Practical Guide to Costumed Interpretation
Jacqueline Lee
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.
com/Routledge-Guides-to-Practice-in-Museums-Galleries-and-Heritage/
book-series/RGPMGH
This is an extended and supplemented version of the original German
version, translated by Ray Cunningham (www.raycunningham.eu)
The Sustainable Museum
How Museums Contribute to the Great
Transformation
Christopher J. Garthe
Cover image: Photo by Marcel Strauß on Unsplash
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
an informa business
© 2023 Christopher J. Garthe
The right of Christopher J. Garthe to be identified as author of this
work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Garthe, Christopher J., author.
Title: The sustainable museum: how museums contribute to the great
transformation / Christopher J. Garthe.
Description: Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, [2023]
| Series: Routledge guides to practice in museums, galleries and
heritage | “This is an extended and supplemented version of the
original German version, translated by Ray Cunningham.”--Title page.
| Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022035263 (print) | LCCN 2022035264 (ebook)
| ISBN 9781032049274 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032049267 (paperback)
| ISBN 9781003195207 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Museums--Environmental aspects--Handbooks,
manuals, etc. | Sustainable design--Handbooks, manuals, etc.
| Museum techniques--Handbooks, manuals, etc.
Classification: LCC AM7 .G35 2023 (print) | LCC AM7 (ebook)
| DDC 069--dc23/eng/20220728
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022035263
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022035264
ISBN: 978-1-032-04927-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-04926-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-19520-7 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003195207
Typeset in Times New Roman
by SPi Technologies India Pvt Ltd (Straive)
Contents
List of figures viii
Preface and acknowledgements ix
1 Introduction: sustainability in museums as a search
and learning process 1
1.1 The status quo: orientation on unfamiliar terrain 1
1.2 Preparation: exploration, compilation and inspiration 1
1.3 The content: sustainability, the museum and transformation 2
PART I
Museums and sustainability 3
2 The museum sector in transition 5
2.1 Global crises as the starting point 5
2.2 The concept of sustainability 8
2.3 Sustainability in the museum: between utopia and banality 13
References 17
3 The vision: The sustainable museum 20
3.1 Sustainability as a guiding principle for museums 20
3.2 Museums and the Great Transformation 28
3.3 Agenda 2030 as a global frame of reference 31
3.4 Participatory science as social context 34
Note 37
References 37
4 Three levers for the transformation 41
4.1 The illusion of neutrality and political activism 41
4.2 Climate protection and decarbonisation 47
4.3 The public as change agent 50
References 59
vi Contents
PART II
Sustainable museum management 65
5 Transformational leadership and museum governance 67
5.1 Strategic development through impact orientation 67
5.2 Governance, leadership and new work 70
5.3 Human resources policy and the workplace 76
Notes 80
References 80
6 Sustainable management and eco-efficient museum operations 84
6.1 Institutional resilience and a broader approach
to accounting 84
6.2 Sustainable procurement 93
6.3 Buildings and resource use 97
Notes 104
References 104
7 Realigning collections and sustainable conservation 108
7.1 The need for a hermeneutic re-vision 108
7.2 Degrowth and deaccessioning 112
7.3 Archives, storage facilities, safeguarding collections and
environmentally efficient processes 114
References 121
8 Transdisciplinary research and sustainability science in museums 124
8.1 Sustainability as a scientific field and transdisciplinary
research 124
8.2 From the “public understanding of research” to
the communication of epistemological practices 127
8.3 Citizen Science and open research labs 132
References 138
9 Collaborative curation and sustainable exhibitions 142
9.1 Sustainable programming and thematic framing 142
9.2 Transformative curating and exhibiting 146
9.3 Sharing and sustainable production 152
9.4 From loans to collaborative collecting 157
References 160
Contents vii
10 Sustainable education and participation in museums 163
10.1 The museum as a place of learning for transformation 163
10.2 Education for sustainable development within museum
education 165
10.3 Participation, co-creation and crowdsourcing 170
10.4 From educational programmes to local activism 174
References 178
PART III
Putting sustainability into practice 183
11 Sustainability in museums as a process of change 185
11.1 Sustainability management in the museum 185
11.2 Emergent change and participation 193
11.3 Actors, roles and positions 197
11.4 Empowerment and meaningful work 203
Note 207
References 207
12 Sustainability strategy, targets and indicators in museums 210
12.1 Mission statement and launch 210
12.2 Fields of action and goals 212
12.3 Modular indicator system for sustainable museums 216
12.4 Analysis of the status quo and monitoring 222
12.5 Resources and timeframes 225
Notes 226
References 226
13 Implementation and sustainability reporting in museums 228
13.1 The sustainability programme: measures and conflicting
goals 228
13.2 Overcoming resistance and taking the first small steps 231
13.3 The sustainability report: design, production
and publication 236
13.4 Reporting as an opportunity for the museum sector 243
Notes 245
References 246
Index 248
Figures
2.1 Milestones in the history of the concept of sustainability 9
3.1 Principles of the sustainable museum 21
3.2 Dimensions of sustainability in the museum 24
3.3 Internal and external sustainability 29
4.1 Museums and the Great Transformation 42
4.2 Politicisation and activism in the sustainable museum 46
4.3 Museum communication and sustainable behaviour 55
5.1 Leadership and new work in the sustainable museum 74
6.1 Building blocks of financial resilience 90
6.2 Sustainable procurement in the museum 93
7.1 Collection and sustainability 111
8.1 Participation and Citizen Science in the sustainable museum 133
9.1 Sustainable programming and exhibiting 143
9.2 Ecological-collaborative exhibition production 152
10.1 Education for sustainable development in the museum 167
11.1 Transformation to a sustainable museum 186
11.2 Phases of sustainability management in the museum 190
11.3 Sustainability management in the museum as
a circular process 191
13.1 Sustainability management in the museum as
a change process 232
Preface and acknowledgements
Imagine if museums – one of the most complex organisations in contempo-
rary society, as Robert Janes and Richard Sandell correctly point out – were
to use their unique potential and their social interconnections to promote
climate protection, greater social justice and well-being, in the broadest sense.
Museums, as key social actors, would then act as multipliers for sustainability
on both a local and a global dimension. This vision has been inspiring me for
some time – and is the motivation for this book. I have been encouraged in
this by numerous thought leaders in the field of museology as well as by my
personal sounding board at the Institute for Ecological Economic Research,
which has repeatedly affirmed me in my sense of direction.
I have carried out numerous exciting projects for and with museums – but
I have never worked in a museum. This book therefore offers an external
perspective on museums as an institution – and thus inevitably remains lim-
ited. Focusing on the global dimension of the idea of sustainability, the book
explicitly does not look at the situation in specific countries.
This book was made possible only by the support of numerous people, to
whom I am deeply indebted. I thank Nina Schallenberg, Andrea Wieloch and
three anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments, as well as Sarah
Sutton, Henry McGhie and Caitlin Southwick for their open and encourag-
ing way of pursuing the vision of the sustainable museum. Jan Löken and
Bernhard Kehrer made this book possible by providing support and space.
Ulrich Petschow and Thomas Korbun have sharpened my thinking with their
critical perspectives. For financial support, I would also like to thank the
Andrea von Braun Foundation, which is committed to breaking down
boundaries between disciplines and promoting collaboration between them.
