Slow Cities - Theme Cities: Solutions for Urban Problems - page 556

provides one example of the ways that such objectives can be attained. The result is
a new process of 're-territorialisation' in a globalization context (Parkins and Craig
2006 ), through 'the politics of topographies' (Massey 2005 , p. 172). In some ways
this new emphasis upon appreciating the character of local places and regions can
be seen as a partial revival of the work of early twentieth century ideas of French
possibilist geographers, such as Paul Vidal de la Blache, who focused on describ-
ing the distinctiveness of the local 'pays' that had such varied characters because
their history and unique 'terroir' created such individual and authentic 'genres de
vie' (ways of life) and cuisines in these regions and their market towns (Buttimer
1971 ). However, this tradition in geographic work was often criticized for ignoring
the forces of the emerging modern, interconnected and industrial world that were
diminishing the distinctiveness of these areas and has faded as a major trend in
geographical study. Today, this new emphasis upon the local and the particular in
the Cittaslow movement is not based simply on local distinctiveness; it is provid-
ing an alternative to global forces, not ignoring them. This trend seems to support
Massey's views that in the contemporary world “ most struggles around globaliza-
tion are inevitably 'local' in some sense or other ” (2005, p. 181). So the challenge
that Cittaslow members face is to develop a politics that can draw on relations from
both within, and beyond, the towns that comprise the movement to promote and
enhance their ideas, not to simply attempt to recreate some fossilized version of the
past.
One of the ways in which these new, or perhaps revived, concepts about localism
have been centred is through the spectacular diffusion of the attribute 'slow', which
has been applied to many sectors of human life (Honor￩ 2004 ), from its initial appli-
cation in slow food, to the labelling of cities that accept certain principles developed
by Cittaslow International (pronounced 'cheeta-slow'). The Cittaslow organization
came into existence in 1999, and although it has not attracted a very wide publicity,
the Cittaslow membership increased rapidly to include 147 towns across four con-
tinents by mid June 2011.These members share a philosophy that recasts the term
'slow' as a positive attribute, not a negative one in the increasingly fast-paced and
interconnected world. It is one that draws on a city's traditional assets and ways of
life, with the goal of obtaining a qualitatively enhanced way of life and standard of
living. This review outlines the development of Cittaslow as a movement, network
and organization, before providing an outlook for its future. At the outset it should
be noted that there are inconsistencies in information on, and by, the Cittaslow
movement, which is matched by variations in the spelling of the name, namely:
Citt￠slow (Pink 2008 ); Citt￠Slow (Miele 2008 ); Cittaslow (most of the English-
speaking members and the website of Cittaslow International); Citt￠ Slow (Beatley
2004 ); Citt￠ Lente (Mayer and Knox 2006 ). In this chapter, outside of quotations,
the organisation is referred to as Cittaslow, which is the version usually used by
most of the English-speaking members and the website of Cittaslow International.
In addition, it is worth noting that the word 'city' is usually used to describe these
places, but in the English-speaking world 'town' would be a more appropriate term,
given their restriction to small centres.