Transcending the nature/culture dichotomy: Cultivated and cultured world class nature

To make human settlements more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable, as encouraged by SDG#11, and in the sub-goal of 11.4 to "strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world's cultural and natural heritage", this paper argues that more nuanced understandings are needed of how people relate to nature, including world class nature. The paper furthermore investigates and discusses interpretations and understandings of nature that is not "wild", untouched, untamed or freed from human intervention and settlement. It advances conceptualizations that benefit efforts to protect and safeguard cultural and natural heritage by providing more nuanced understandings of what nature, respectively culture "is", using the Danish part of the Wadden Sea (a National Park, parts of which are also a UNESCO Natural World Heritage site) as a relevant case. Based on data collected from 48 research participants by means of various mobile and qualitative methods, variations of interpretations and appreciations of nature voiced by the research participants point to refined understanding of the subtle nuances of nature and culture as a first critical step towards strengthening efforts to protect and safeguard the world's cultural and natural heritage.