Slow your city

Like they do it in Italy

Posted by Tom Philpott at 8:12 AM on 08 Oct 2007

Read more about: placemaking | green living | urban planning | cars

It's not easy to be punctual for a meeting with Stefano Cimicchi. Parking places are hard to come by in Orvieto, even if cars are still legal. Cars in the city center stick out like a sore thumb among strolling pedestrians, who move to the sides of the streets with studied slowness. After a couple of twisty laps though the narrow medieval alleyways of the old town center, you might find a parking place on the edge of the small Umbrian town -- and pay handsomely for the privilege of parking.

Cimicchi was mayor of Orvieto from 1991 to 2004, and for several years he was president of the "Slow City" movement, an outgrowth of the successful "Slow Food" concept. "Slow City" advocates argue that small cities should preserve their traditional structures by observing strict rules: cars should be banned from city centers; people should eat only local products and use sustainable energy. In these cities, there's not much point in looking for a supermarket chain or McDonald's.

"Our goal is to create liveable cities," says Cimicchi, a cheerful 51-year-old with a white moustache and laugh lines around his eyes. "We are working, if you will, on the concept of the utopian city, in the same way as the writer Italo Calvino and the architect Renzo Piano have done."

Forget Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, or whatever those dudes' names are. Start slowing your city today.

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3 Comments | Post a Comment

Don't We Have That Now?

In some sense, given the gridlock of everyday life due to poor city planning for automobiles and an overemphasis on a hub and spoke architecture rather than recognizing the benefits of sprawl, all cities are Slow Cities.

by jabailo at 8:53 AM on 08 Oct 2007

Manana Time

Yes, I moved down to the Coast where time is slow, so as to escape the rat race. I like slow cities, too, although not congested ones. Manana means "tomorrow." However, as far as manufacturing and just-in-time transportation, it is the kiss of death. May I remind the reader that Dell (of computer fame) located a major assembly and shipping hub to Tennessee because Austin TX was simply too congested - they couldn't get trucks on the road. Lots of people think of idyllic situations for people and nice downtowns with no cars but that is antithetical to business - and sometimes those two goals conflict.

Onward through the fog

by Sam Wells at 10:12 AM on 08 Oct 2007

city centers

This term cannot always easily be transferred from Europe to North America. There may be a true "downtown" in our older cities, but nothing quite like a "centro storico" or "casco antiguo" or "Altstadt." The exception which proves the rule is la vieille ville de Quebec, which is a walled French town.

Also, it is not always easy to decide where a "downtown" begins. As I wrote a while ago on another occasion, were I king of NYC, I would decree that the area free of private vehicles should start at 95th Street and extend to just east and south of downtown Brooklyn -- but the borders are pretty arbitrary.

Even among European cities, it should be pointed out, Orvieto is unusual. It is an Etruscan foundation, built spectacularly on what would be called in the US Southwest a mesa. So space is quite limited up there. When we went in 2000, we drove to the top, and found parking without too much difficulty -- I forget what we paid -- , but then there was still a bit of a hike and a climb to the splendid Piazza del Duomo, which is the heart of the city.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 2:11 AM on 09 Oct 2007

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