Slow Cities: What are we searching for?
Slow Cities. What are we searching for in our cities? What do we hope to achieve? What is it about the term ’slow cities’ which attracts us, makes us yearn for a different place, or pushes us to wish that our own cities were different. I suspect that most of us feel that our own lives are too fast-paced. Perhaps this is why we are visitors to the Slow Planet website in the first place. Do we believe that our lives would be a little slower, more balanced and more manageable if only we lived in a ’slow city’?
As a city planner, I am constantly thinking of the future of our urban environments. I consider the hopes and dreams of the people who live in cities, and then I think about how to plan (or design) these hopes and dreams into a reality. I’ve had many people tell me that they love the idea of a slow city. They would move there immediately, they tell me, if only such a place truly existed.
In fact, slow cities do exist, and they are even called ‘Slow Cities’ or ‘Citta Slow.’ The question is whether or not the official definition of a Slow City truly fulfills our own individual dreams of a slow city. Slow Cities are governed by rules, definitions, a charter and a philosophy. There is a reason that Slow Cities formed in the first place — a reason that is akin to Slow Food’s own existance. Initially, the ’slow’ of Slow Cities seems to exist on a policy level; a policy which borders on philosophy. To truly understand what a Slow City is, we must look at these policies and then translate them into tangible realities that will (or perhaps will not) convince us that slow cities exist in the way that we want them to exist.
Many of us long for cities that are different, that are slow. To understand Slow Cities is the first step before understanding what we are actually hoping for. I invite you to follow this blog as we explain the policies and philosophies of Slow Cities, and work to understand where we live and where we want to live. Cities are complex, but they are not impossible. We can work towards making our cities the places in which we do want to live.
Recent posts by this author
- Slow Cities help to enable Slow Lives - April 10th, 2010
- Canada's Slow City - July 11th, 2009
- Regaining a Slow Balance - June 10th, 2009
- Seasons in a City - April 4th, 2009
- Living in the City - March 4th, 2009
