Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
decline in the number of new members since 2008. For example, a comparison of
the list of members for 2010 and July 2011 indicates that although there was an
overall increase in the number of members, six cities left while 15 centres joined
the movement.
In contrast to Slow Food, which began as an international movement with a
manifesto endorsed by delegates from fifteen countries at its inaugural meeting in
Paris, Cittaslow was originally conceived as a national network of towns. However,
the Charter's goals were drawn up with Italian cities in mind, especially cities of the
late-medieval and Renaissance in Italy, in which their piazzas were still the core of
many social activities. Within four years of its launching, however, the Italian con-
cept of Cittaslow had developed European ambitions. Pink (
2009
, p. 455) described
an interview conducted in 2003 with two members of the Slow Food Press Office
,
in which Stefano Cimicchi, the President of the movement at the time, stated:
We want the association to become a player at European level to make sure that the Con-
stitution currently being drawn up (by Strasbourg) takes into account the reality of small
towns and cities.
Between 2002 and 2006 eight European towns from outside Italy joined the move-
ment (3 from Germany, 2 from Norway and 3 from the U.K.). This led to a series
of meetings for the purposes of reflecting on the movement's early history, and
identifying the problems to be encountered when applying the concept of slowness
outside of Italy (Miele
2008
). In 2007 the first members from outside Europe joined
the movement (4 towns in South Korea and 2 in Australia), and by 2011 towns in 24
different countries had become members of Cittaslow thereby attesting to the trans-
national nature of the movement. However it is worth noting that French towns,
especially those with similar historic traditions and local cuisines, have been slow
to join the movement. The first joined in 2010, four more were accepted in 2011 and
3 more in 2013 (Roux
2013
).
In addition to developing the network in terms of its geographic spread, Cit-
taslow has also started to spread its influence further up the urban hierarchy. Al-
though membership is limited to towns with a population no greater than 50,000, in
2002 the mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delano￫, was presented with the annual award
in the non Cittaslow administrators section. A
Cittaslow Supporter
category was
created in 2005 for towns and local authorities with a population exceeding 50,000,
making it clear that the movement has broadened from its earlier small-scale focus.
Moreover, the movement has started to encourage its members to conform with
international assessment criteria established outside Cittaslow—such as standards
set for environmental management by the International Organization for Standard-
ization (ISO series 14000) and Eco-Management and Audit Schemes (EMAS)—as
well as trying to influence the policy of supra-national governmental organisations.
Hence the network is developing a more active international role.
The creation of the network of towns that make up Cittaslow is also important for
the transfer of ideas. This may take place within the network of accredited towns,
but ideas may also be exchanged between a member and one or more towns prepar-
ing for membership, as noted by Miele (
2008
, p. 146).
