Slow City

"Even sex is on a stopwatch these days. I like a quickie as much as the next person, but there's an awful lot to be gained from slowing down."
-Carl Honore

I just watched this really great talk by Carl Honore about our need to slow down. Of course I knew about the Slow Food Movement, but I must have missed articles on similar movements for Sex and Cities. I even bought the "Slow" issue of Good Magazine earlier this year, and it still passed me by. [Insert slow joke here.]

Anyway, maybe everyone but me already knows there's this whole Cittaslow movement that started in Italy in 1999. Super intrigued by this -- especially in my "stop-and-smell-the-roses" camp mode -- so I looked it up:

"The main goal of Cittaslow is to enlarge the philosophy of Slow Food to local communities and to government of towns, applying the concepts of ecogastronomy at practice of everyday life. Municipalities which join the association are motivated by curious people of a recovered time, where man is still protagonist of the slow and healthy succession of seasons, respectful of citizens’ health, the authenticity of products and good food, rich of fascinating craft traditions of valuable works of art, squares, theaters, shops, cafés, restaurants, places of the spirit and unspoiled landscapes, characterized by spontaneity of religious rites, respect of traditions through the joy of a slow and quiet living."

(I like how they took their time with that last sentence there.)

Hmm. Who do I know who might be interested in this....

Hey Phillip Cooley, wanna start a local Detroit Cittaslow chapter? It would have to just be a small part of downtown, because I think you gotta have fewer than 50,000 residents to join. But really, seeing as the U.S. movement is headquartered in...wait for it...Sonoma Valley (of course, right?), I think they really NEED us. We can make this SO much cooler than a bunch of old white wine drinkers ever could. (And by white I mean the drinkers, not the wine. I'm sure some of those folks prefer a nice merlot or cabernet.)

Plus Phil, I know you need another Detroit project. So think about it...and take your time. Really, no rush.

I really like the Cittaslow mission. I'm ALL about "authenticity" and "unspoiled landscapes." Really, I'm pretty much for anything the Italians do when it comes to food, fashion & architecture. Plus, it seems to go hand-in-hand with Transition U.S. and BALLE and other good pro-local movements.

But there has to be a balance between local and global, slow and fast. I like Tuscan villages, but I also like super energetic and dynamic places like New York and London and Toronto. In fact, often I find that a beautiful cathedral or park is made even more serene and spiritual by its proximity to the hum of commercial activity. Too sleepy, and you lose that verve and vitality, ya know? Cities gotta have some contrast and diversity, or they're just...

{yawn}

(This reminds me, another way city planning gurus describe "yawn" is with an acronym: "PMS" (Pale, Male & Stale). It's the trilogy of uncreative places, they say. For the record, I think the old men of Tuscany & Sonoma are usually pretty tan from hanging out in their vineyards, so I'm not sure they qualify.)

Speaking of slow, lately I've been growing super impatient with the glacial speed of change in Detroit. I've found myself thinking (or worse, saying): "For god sakes, can we pick up the pace, people?" What I'm talking about is not really daily living -- more the collective, civic doing. Like how long have we been talking about the need for a light rail system? Can we please get that M1 line built already? Because the waiting is making me batty. Andale!

But all this Slow Movement stuff reminds me there may be a bright side to inertia. Maybe we have a better chance in Detroit of growing neighborhoods and businesses slowly & organically? Maybe we can avoid those boom-&-bust trends that other more "popular" places experience?

This came up in a long chat I had recently with a professor from Austin, TX who came to Detroit to study community change & the media. Austin, like Portland, is one of those poster kids for "creative cities," but he said it might have jumped the shark. Detroit, he claimed, was far more interesting.

Yeah. Interesting, for sure. Healthy? Nuh-uh. No way.

It would be the WORST injustice to the people of Detroit if we stopped pushing impatiently for creativity and prosperity (via public amenities like transit) because we're concerned we might get "too cool" or something. Like it always really kills me when hipsters suggest Detroit is awesome just the way it is. Try telling that to a DPS kid. Or a working mother without a car.

Hmm, maybe Detroit is not quite ready for the Slow Movement just yet. Maybe we need to get our heart rate up a little before we can slow it back down again.

Anyway, here's the video that got me thinkin' about all this: