There's a movement called "Slow City" whose goal is to create "livable cities." One of their ideas is to ban cars from city centers; others are to ban fast food outlets like McDonalds (slow food goes well with slow city,) and to promote local markets and shops. From Planetizen (image from planetizen.com)
In Europe, some of these trends [fast food, fast life] have taken a hold as well. However, the developments on the other side of the Atlantic have sparked two counter movements – the Slow Food and Slow City movements. The goals of both of these movements are to resist the cultural and economic homogenization and standardization of McDonalds, KFC, Wal-Mart and other icons of globalization.
The Slow Food movement was started in reaction to the announcement of plans to open a McDonald's restaurant in the Piazza di Spagna in the heart of Rome in 1986. Italian journalist and food writer Carlo Petrini was the founder of the movement – its philosophy rooted in preserving the social, economic, and cultural aspects of food production and consumption. To date, the movement has more than 110,000 members in 83 countries.
Since its founding, the movement has grown and spread across the borders of Italy, and more than 65 cities have been certified so far. Towns in Germany (Waldkirch, Hersbruck, Schwarzenbruck, and Überlingen), Norway (Levanger and Sokndal), and the United Kingdom (Ludlow, Aylsham, and Diss) are now part of the movement as well. More than 300 other towns from around the world have inquired about joining, and existing certified Slow Cities enjoy a steady stream of local and international visitors interested in the movement.
This article in Der Speigel says:
The movement is spreading across Europe and is now taking off in Asia."Our goal is to create liveable cities," says Cimicchi, a cheerful 51-year-old with a white moustache and laugh lines around his eyes. "We are working, if you will, on the concept of the utopian city, in the same way as the writer Italo Calvino and the architect Renzo Piano have done."
The miniscule Tuscan Chianti town of Greve became the first "cittáslow" in 1999, followed by Bra, Positano and Orvieto. Over time, the slowness wave has spread. There are now 42 slow cities in Italy, and more and more cities -- in Great Britain, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Poland and Norway -- conform to the movement's list of strict requirements. In Germany, a number of cities -- including Hersbruck, Lüdinghausen, Schwarzenbruck, Waldkirch and Überlingen -- have joined the select circle, which only admits cities with fewer than 50,000 inhabitants.
The last requirement obviously makes New York a non-starter in the movement, but there is a broader picture here worth looking at, particularly with New York Transportion Department becoming more aware of pedestrians and cyclists as opposed to focusing exclusively on cars. New York "recently [scored] a bronze medal for urban bike-friendliness from the League of American Bicyclists"; the new, separated bicycle lane on 9th Ave in Chelsea got plenty of press in, among others, streetsblog (here and here.) Traffic calming measures and congestion pricing aim to improve traffic density.
Maybe we are on the way to becoming a Slower City at least.
's
Comments