Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
voting rights. The fourth International Assembly was held in Poland in June 2011,
when Gian Luca Marconi (Mayor of Castelnovo ne' Monti in Italy) was re-elected
President. In addition to the President, the International Co-ordinating Commit-
tee comprises nine Vice-Presidents and 16 members elected from member towns
around the world. Although the election of officers gives the national networks the
possibility of being represented at the international level, only 14 of the 24 countries
in which there are Cittaslow members are represented directly on the International
Co-ordinating Committee. So Italy still dominates the movement, accounting for
half of its 26 places, with each of the other 13 countries having a representative
each. This seeming 'over-representation' of members from Italy on the International
Co-ordinating committee is nevertheless in line with the fact that around half of the
membership of Cittaslow comprises towns from Italy.
Members of the International Co-ordinating Committee meet two or three times
per year in different member towns. These meetings are held in order to identify the
initiatives that are of interest to the network as a whole and to approve their financ-
ing, to review membership criteria, and to monitor the progress of international
projects. Sub-committees are also established to consider specific topics as and
when required, such as marketing and ways of strengthening links between mem-
ber towns. The experts comprising the Cittaslow Scientific Committee also assist
the International Co-ordinating Committee on cultural and scientific matters. There
are 14 members of the Scientific Committee, providing expertise in such fields as:
architecture, planning and economic development, law, food culture, and tourism.
Below the level of international committees, there are a number of national net-
works. These come into existence once a country has three member towns. At this
point, Cittaslow International invites these towns to form a new national network
with the purpose of working together to promote the movement and recruit new
members in their country. By November 2011 there were ten national Cittaslow
networks, with each one adopting its own form of organization. In the case of Cit-
taslow U.K. the national network takes the form of a Community Interest Company
(CIC) with a Board of Directors appointed from each of the member towns, together
with a representative of Slow Food U.K. CICs were introduced by the British gov-
ernment in 2005 and are designed for social enterprises which want to benefit the
community rather than private shareholders. The Board works by holding meetings
three or four times a year and uses Skype to keep in contact. These meetings are also
regularly attended by the Director and other members of Cittaslow International.
Cittaslow U.K. does not have a single head office to carry out administrative func-
tions, rather it shares responsibilities and activities between the volunteer members.
For example, the town of Alysham in Norfolk provides Cittaslow U.K. with its
secretariat, while Mold in North Wales, looks after finances as well as co-ordinating
the work of members of the British network.
These national and international networks are made up of the recognized agen-
cies (usually the town councils) who are the members of the Cittaslow movement.
Given the variety of ways in which town councils in different countries through-
out the movement are internally organized, there is no single method of incor-
porating Cittaslow into any municipal organization. In the U.K. the movement
