In 1986 the Slow Food movement began in Italy, with the aim of promoting local Italian food producers and outlets in a stand against the prevailing global supermarkets and fast food chains. The idea spread across Europe and has been taken up by many small communities throughout Europe.
The idea has now grown into the much broader Cittaslow project with the slogan ‘a network of cities where living is easy’. The first official ‘slow town’ in the UK (and possobly in the English speaking world) is the market town of Ludlow in Shropshire.
Cittaslow has a broad remit including familiar issues like noise pollution, recycling, and protection of historic character. Other priorities include boosting a sense of community identity and celebrating local produce in the form of traditional farmer’s markets and family businesses. The Cittaslow web site is here: http://www.cittaslow.stratos.it/ (in Italian) or in English here: www.cittaslow.net/world.
Similarities with the various Market Towns projects in the UK are obvious, (see here for example) but the roots are a lot deeper. In 1978, the Wirksworth project was set up by the Civic Trust to regenerate the small town of Wirksworth in Derbyshire. (A brief history here.) This was hugely successful, turning a decaying mining town into a tourist destination. Similar projects were set up across the UK, with varying degrees of success, but the idea was also picked up in other countries, including the USA, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. The Main Street USA project was probably the most successful and their website has lots of inspirational examples and useful material.
From the USA the idea seems to have travelled back across the Atlantic, turning into projects like this one or on a smaller scale this.
Reinforcing the idea of 'local identity' is the idea of Local Distinctiveness developed by Common Ground, from whom came I think the idea of Apple Day. A specific project of theirs is 'England in Particular'. From the local gazetteer here, you can see the diverse entries for your locality by clicking on the on-screen map. For another example of projects around local food, this time in Devon, go here (free registration needed first on this site from here).
Finally, another project, which builds on the idea that supporting local business generates more money for the local economy than is the case with large multiples, is 'Plugging the Leaks' from the New Economics Foundation.
This post is drawn from a e-mail newsletter I do for a Market Towns project, aimed at members of Community Planning Partnerships and others working in community based regeneration. I'm looking to widen the distribution making it more widely available on subscription. If you or your organisation would be interested in receiving a free sample copy and answer a few questions about pricing, frequency of distribution etc, please e-mail me on newsletter[at]ibanda[dot]biz.
