Slow City

Linda and Michael explore the Matakana Farmers Market of New Zealand’s first slow city. Click the image to learn more about Matakana.

So what is a slow city?

Well a slow city’s goal is to improve quality of life in cities and towns by slowing down it’s overall pace. Changing the flow and traffic through them.

Matakana is New Zealand’s first slow city so far, but the movement does not come from New Zealand. It was actually founded much earlier in Italy, by the organization; Cittaslow in 1999. Their movement was inspired by the slow food movement at the time (which also strives to better a local environment, by preserving traditional and regional cuisine, and encouraging a healthy local ecosystem).

Villa Terra Nova in Sonoma CA, 1 of 3 US slow cities, all in CA

Cittaslow is now a global organization and movement, encouraging high quality local ingredients. There are now about 30 countries participating in the slow city movement, including the US, which has 3 slow cities in California!

There are 50 goals and principles that each Cittaslow town commits to achieving. Tap IN by clicking the image below to visit Cittaslow and see how your city can move towards a sustainable, healthy ecosystem.