Travel Reference
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concerned principally about the quality of life of citizens. Like slow food,
Cittáslow is underpinned by a philosophy that emphasizes a slower pace,
relaxation, locality and traditional culture (Nilsson et al, 2007). Whilst
Cittáslow maintains and supports the ideals of slow food, it is more about
creating conditions in which local residents can enjoy a relaxed and socially
productive life in their cities. Thus, the original mayors agreed a charter of
50 items to improve the infrastructure and cityscape of their towns and to
encourage a social engagement by their citizens (Mayor and Knox, 2006).
These included measures to remove traffic from some streets so that the
atmosphere is more convivial, and to slow down the pace of life. It also
included pledges to oppose unwanted or inappropriate retail development, to
encourage local distinctiveness and a unique sense of place. In essence it is
very much about action planning, place-making and sociability (Mayer and
Knox, 2009).
The 'sense of place' concept is well documented (Gehl, 1996). There is a
consensus that it is socially constructed, very often by local people, who walk,
sit and visit the buildings of the town. It also includes the spaces in between
where social exchange and meetings take place, thus allowing a pleasurable
sensory experience (Pink, 2007). Cittáslow is also about creating places, or
principally streetscapes that have quality, character and atmosphere (Entrikin,
1991; Jackson, 1994). The term authenticity has also been applied in relation
to the genuine nature and atmosphere of the configuration of buildings and
streetscapes (Assi, 2000). The imperative is to retain what is good and true
about a place and to resist inappropriate 'look-alike' development, for exam-
ple, intrusive car parks and highways, which will detract from the overall
character of a place (Landry and Bianchini, 1995).
Jivén and Larkham (2003) conclude that there is a need for urban design-
ers, architects and planners to take note of the theoretical underpinning of the
concept of sense of place in each respective context; they also argue for the
need to involve local people in place-making. Knox (2005) builds on the prem-
ise that societal norms count for much, and ways of going about life in
particular locales are important in the process of the development of the
human landscape. There is an equally convincing argument that adherence to
these principles in slow cities retains or even re-builds places; in time, the
atmosphere and wellbeing becomes an attraction for visitors. This is where
some caution has been expressed, as there is a fine line between attracting vis-
itors and visitors overwhelming central zones. However, at least one of the
Cittáslow townships, Ludlow in England, publicizes that visitors are to be wel-
comed as temporary residents.
It is also possible to map the antecedents of slow travel in the academic
literature. There are three strands of academic inquiry that have contributed
to the emerging discourse on slow travel. The first strand relates to those who
have attempted to define the core elements. In France, the idea of 'slow
tourism' has emerged principally from the researchers Jean-Paul Ceron and
Ghislain Dubois (Ceron and Dubois, 2007; Dubois and Ceron, 2006b), who
have drawn on the idea of 'le tourisme lent' used by Matos-Wasem (cited in
Ceron and Dubois, 2007). Slow tourism has been used to refer to conventional
