Slow Cities - Theme Cities: Solutions for Urban Problems - page 563

Table 15﻽1 (continued)

(5) Use the products from the local area that are safeguarded by Slow Food and the main-
tenance of nutritional traditions in collective food service, in protected structures, school
canteens, together with programs for food education
(6) Support the typical products of the local area through implementation of the 'Mercati della
Terra' (a market for locally grown and produced products) in cooperation with Slow Food
members
(7) Support the Terra Madre (TM) project and food committees through joint twinning TM is a
world market first held in Turin in 2004 (Petrini 2009)
EMAS : Eco-Management and Audit Schemes are management instruments developed by the
European Union which help companies and other organisations to assess their environmental
performance. ECOLABEL : The voluntary labelling of food and consumer products which provide
consumers with a sustainability measurement. ISO9001: A standard produced by the International
Organisation of Standardisation (ISO) which covers quality management systems. ISOI4000: An
ISO standard addressing environmental management. SA800: An international set of auditable
standards concerning the social aspects of workplaces. Agenda 21 projects are aimed at sustainable
development, which implement the Agenda 21 ideas adopted in 1992 by the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Planning, Rio de Janeiro.

and liveability of urban places in the last three decades. Many of these polices give
an added meaning to the word 'slow' which goes beyond speed, since they include
the time spent in appreciating and achieving a qualitatively different lifestyle.
Clearly some of these goals overlap with some of the ideas expressed in the
Transition Town and Ecocities movements as well as in settlements attempting to
be more sustainable (Chap. 7). But the Cittaslow policies are distinctive in focus-
ing on several issues that are rarely found in the recently developed new themes
influencing urban policies. One is the importance of maintaining traditions in many
aspects of life, as well as in urban morphology, features derived from a local heri-
tage—not one imported from elsewhere, as in the copying of older forms found in
neo-traditional urbanism developments in North America. Related to this is the fo-
cus on autochthonous developments in the town and its region. Three other unique
features are the emphases on quality, hospitality and the promotion of the ideas of
slow living, with its privileging of diversity rather than standardization. Finally, at
the heart of the approach is the distinctive focus on food and taste , issues that also
form the basis of the Slow Food movement.

15﻽4 Membership of Cittaslow

Cittaslow membership is open to towns with a population of less than 50,000 that
are not regional capitals—showing the emphasis is upon smaller centres, most of
which are the historic market towns of their region. A mixed committee comprising
members of Cittaslow International and representatives of the national Cittaslow
Coordination Committee undertakes the work of 'translating' the goals that are ex-
pressed in its charter (Table 15.1 ) to the cultural context of the country in question
(Miele 2008 , p. 150). Cittaslow U.K., for example, works from a list of 55 goals.