Cultural Route As An Approach To Foster Regional Cultural Sustainability : A Study of Swedish Explorer Sven Hedin’s Expedition Heritage along the Silk Road in Northwest China

This dissertation strives to analyze the role of the cultural route as an approach and evaluates its validity to foster regional cultural sustainability. The author has investigated the relationship between cultural route, cultural sustainability, and regional development through studying Swedish explorer Sven Hedin’s expedition heritage along the Silk Road. A qualitative approach was taken to study how practitioners in particular tourism subdivisions attempt to implanting Sven Hedin’s legacy into different practices in Northwest China. With the help of the Actor-Network Theory as a material-semiotic method, a significant finding is that evolutionary networks centered on Sven Hedin, as an internal drive to promote the development of cultural routes, are taking shape. Cultural route as an approach to foster regional development cannot be achieved independently by individuals and SMEs; an institutional dimension needs to be considered for integrated management. This approach offers a new participation model in regional construction to their recipients and provides a sustainable strength for inhabitants to understand their cultural identity and embrace their future