Cultural Sustainability Through Public Art: A Case Study of Beijing Daxing International Airport

Abstract

In the context of globalization and rapid urbanization, cultural sustainability has emerged as the "fourth pillar" of sustainable development, while airports have evolved from mere transportation hubs to critical platforms for cultural expression and national image projection. This study takes the public art project of Beijing Daxing International Airport (BDIA) as a core case to explore how airport public art promotes urban cultural sustainability. By integrating theories of cultural sustainability, soft power, glocalization, and public art, the research adopts a qualitative-dominant exploratory approach, including literature analysis and in-depth interviews with key stakeholders. The findings reveal that BDIA’s public art achieves cultural sustainability through five core mechanisms: cultural inheritance and innovation, identity construction, cross-cultural communication, spatial function integration, and policy-driven governance. The study constructs a theoretical model of "airport public art promoting urban cultural sustainability" and provides practical implications for similar international airport art projects.