Cowichan Bay is North America's First "Slow City"
Cowichan Bay has become North America's first Cittaslow (Slow City). You may be asking what the heck a "Slow City" is. Well, I grew up in what I would consider a slow city, but this is a bit different. The basic criteria: pedestrian walkways, no big box or chain stores, and a population of less than 50 thousand.
So there can't be too many place that would even conceivably qualify for this. My hometown of approximately 6,000 is chain store heaven. Now I have no problem with an Ace Hardware or Subway, but Cittaslow does. Cittaslow was inspired by the slow food movement. Cittaslow's goals include improving the quality of life in towns while resisting "the fast-lane, homogenized world so often seen in other cities throughout the world." It's part of a larger movement to promote slow travel, slow money and slow living.
There are dozens of town in Italy certified as slow cities and many others across Europe. Now North American has one, a tiny fishing village in British Columbia. Any guesses on if/when an American city will be certified as a "Cittaslow"?
Gentrification: "... welcome by some and feared and loathed by others, and even dreaded and welcomed at the same time by the same people." Lance Freeman's pursuit of this duality makes the book strong-he's willing to admit that gentrification is both a pleasure and a problem, rather than setting up camp on one side.
Would Mackinaw Island, MI qualify?
Hmmm...maybe, though Mackinac is so geared toward tourism that I wonder if it would qualify.
"and a population of less than 50 thousand."
If a city with more than 50,000 people fits all the other criteria, why exclude it? This is just knee-jerk anti-urbanism, and makes it hard for me to take the movement seriously.
Cap'n Transit - that's a fair statement, but the slow movement is a very specific movement that's not particularly interested in recognizing larger cities, besides, it's very, very likely that a city larger than 50,000 will have some chain stores, etc. Basically, the slow movement is what it is, but may not be what you would like.
Yes, Alex, it's not what I would like. It's not what the authors of the website you linked above would like either.
Is it what you would like: a movement full of people who are so prejudiced against urbanism that they feel the need to add "and under 50,000 people" to their very specific list of criteria?
It doesn't bother me. It's their own criteria and they can do what they want. It's a movement begun in and for small towns where a slower way of life can be found. What's wrong with that? I spent my first 18 years in a small town and loved it. There are plenty of movements for metropolises, urban centers with millions of residents and so forth. You're picking and choosing your words as well, as their site also states that the "quality of the urban fabric" is one measure used to assess a city. Even cities smaller than 50,000 can be "urban" can they not? I don't see the slow movement as anti-urban, but pro-slow.
I bet Jekyll Island, Georgia would qualify, if hotel chains don't count. There are only 3 that I can think of.
I imagine that it depends on the town leadership.
It seems that many small American towns are just bedroom communities. Their automobile dependency and lack of affordable housing can lock out youth, innovation.
I've been to a slow city - Katooma north of Sydney. It was wonderful, with great energy and quality of life.
Katoomba
The only problem I have with it is that the name "slow cities" suggests that it applies to all cities, but then they exclude larger cities. I also think that it's very small-minded of them to think that you can't have that quality of life in a larger city.
Also, on Thursday they named their first United States "Citta Slow," and it is... Sonoma Valley, California. It's kind of weird that they would name a "valley" instead of a city within the valley, and that suggests an acceptance of sprawl. I've never been there, so I can't really judge, but it does have a Whole Foods right in the middle of town. To me that's a good thing, and it gives the town a nice high Walk Score, but it is a chain store.
I've been to Katoomba - though a number of years ago. I've been lucky enough to be in several of the Italian slow cities as well. Of course there are quite a number of them so it's almost hard not to got to one - Orvieto, Todi, etc. Some cities easily meet the slow city definition by adhering to their centuries-old history, others may require stringent zoning or new ordinances. Whatever the issues surrounding the movement, I think it's worth celebrating the "slow" way of life.
Yes, interesting regarding the inclusion of Sonoma Valley. Certain times of the year, the valley is a little less than slow with the tourist buses and vacationers. It will be interesting to see what other towns in the U.S. may be included.
50,000 is the minimum size for a metropolitan area in the US. If it's less than that, does it qualify as a city? Or is it an "urban cluster?"
What they term a "micropolitan" area has less than 50,000 but at least 10,000 citizens.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_micropolitan_area