Cittaslow: Going Glocal in Spain

ABSTRACT:

Concerns about the long-term effects of development based on pro-growth capitalism and the perceived homogenizing effects of globalization have given rise to movements, such as Cittaslow (the Slow City movement), that promote alternative strategies. These movements, which exist primarily in smaller cities and towns, focus on locality, the ordinariness of place, and sustainable, homegrown economies. We make two related arguments. First, we argue that the experiences of Cittaslow towns in Spain lend support to the thesis that globalization does not always lead to a homogenized world in which the local and the global are pitted against each other in a battle of good vs. evil. Rather, Cittaslow towns actively exploit the interpenetration of the global and the local. Second, we build on this argument to show how the ways that Cittaslow towns develop through a relationship between the local and the global challenges the neoliberal assumption that growth is the key to successful development through initiatives that foster intercity competition.

Notes

Cittaslow is a movement that towns can apply to and join, whereas the term glocal remains a more theoretical concept. Individual towns may join Cittaslow or other similar movements such as Agenda 21 and Transition Towns. Glocal is more the quality of a place or experience.

The terminology for referring to Cittaslow (the Italian term for a slow city or town) is complicated when translated into English since the categories and terminologies of city, town, and village used in Italian and Spanish do not map directly onto the English terms. The urban settlements we studied in Spain would there be called pueblos. In Spanish this term refers to both village and what in the United Kingdom or the United States would be called a town. Therefore we refer to them as towns in this article.

In the United States, 97% of cities have a population of less than 50,000 and 87% have fewer than 10,000 (Bell & Jayne, , p. 11.)

The movement is concentrated in western Europe, and 69 of these cities are in Italy, which is logical at this stage given the origins of the movement.

Robertson () adapted this term from its Japanese origins. Originally used in Japan (the Japanese word is dochakuka) to refer to the agricultural practice of adapting growing techniques to local traditions, the term became more widespread in business circles in the 1980s.

Erickson and Roberts () studied the promotional materials of a range of diverse towns in the United Kingdom and found that, despite a renewed interest in emphasizing local difference, the materials produced by the studied cities are “remarkably similar and demonstrate a desegregated and thematic attitude to place” (p. 44).

Helen Jarvis, Fabio Parasecoli, and Ezio Manzini.

Officials at one town (Mungia) were unresponsive, and at another (Bigastro) were unable to accommodate a visit within our time frame. We did interview the chief local official responsible for Cittaslow in Bigastro.

Fulano is placeholder name used in Spanish to refer to people whose names are temporarily forgotten or unknown.

The story in some places is somewhat different. Grzelak-Kostulska et al. (), for example, found that Polish Cittaslow towns have been using Cittaslow to “meet the needs of local communities and to attract people to cities and businesses, ensuring the future development of the city and improving the living conditions of the population. Its importance increases with the growing concern about the depopulation of small towns” (p. 189).

The situation in Poland is somewhat different. In a survey of residents of four Polish slow towns, Grzelak-Kostulska et al. () found that 57% of respondents had prior knowledge of the movement and 30% had never heard of it.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lisa J. Servon

Lisa J. Servon is Professor and former Dean at the Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy at The New School, New York. Professor Servon teaches and conducts research in the areas of urban poverty, community development, economic development, and issues of gender and race. Her current research focuses on the alternative financial services industry. Servon is the author or editor of numerous journal articles and four books: Bridging the Digital Divide: Technology, Community, and Public Policy (2002), Bootstrap Capital: Microenterprises and the American Poor (1999), Gender and Planning: A Reader (With Susan Fainstein, 2005), and Otra Vida es Posible: Practicas Economicas Alternativas Durante la Crisis (With Manuel Castells, Joana Conill, Amalia Cardenas, and Sviatlana Hlebik, 2012).

Sarah Pink

Sarah Pink is Professor of Design and Media Ethnography at RMIT University in Australia, and Professor in Applied Social and Cultural Analysis at Halmstad University in Sweden. Her projects connect anthropological ethnography to design, engineering, and documentary and arts practice. Her current focus is on the relationship between design, ethnography and futures research, working through projects that challenge conventional ethnographic temporalities. Sarah’s recent books include Doing Sensory Ethnography (2nd Edition 2015), Doing Visual Ethnography (3rd Edition 2013), Situating Everyday Life (2012), and Advances in Visual Methodology (2012).