In the last century, when the migration from rural to urban areas increased rapidly since the industrial revolution, the problem of "the existence of rural areas only for the city" emerged as a result of the series of events that resulted in the decrease in the population of rural settlements and the unlivable cities. Underestimating its value to this point of view is one of the biggest indicators of the problem, while the existence of rural settlement is important for the city, the region and the country.Decreasing rural production with the population loss of rural settlements constitutes an important obstacle to local development. The results of the efforts and incentives of local governments for the development of rural areas cannot have a visible effect and the problem is remaining unsolved.

Different international movements that emerged from the beginning of the 2000s have been the development hope for rural settlements. One of these movements is "Cittaslow", in other words "Calm/Slow City" movement. While this movement praises the local character and claims that development is possible via supporting local production, it also argues that there is no need for "speed" to develop. This trend, which does its best to oppose the fast life brought by the concept of globalization, is seen as a development path for small settlements that maintain their locality, and the number of cities joining the network has been increasing every passing year. Turkey has 18 member cities such as Seferihisar and Güdül that won the “Calm/Slow City” title. Cities with a rural character, which are saved from being lost with the participation in the Cittaslow network, could have a chance to save themselves.

However, the spread rate of Cittaslow to the world, which is such a movement against speed, is just as high. Could this be causing the principles of the movement defended against the concepts it opposes to lose their meaning?

Although Cittaslow advocates a calm and quiet life, it has to comply with some changes required by the age. Among the criteria stipulated during participation in the network has the use of the internet and the services offered by digitalization. Information technologies are at the forefront of these, but the purpose of accelerating transactions, which is the purpose of the emergence of the internet, and using this technology, which is the pioneer of globalization today, is against the calm manner that Cittaslow advocates. Although Cittaslow is one of the ways of getting rid of the small settlements from being wiped off the map, finding a way to get rid of the calm lifestyle from globalization has become the new problem.

With the Cittaslow movement, which creates an area where cities that maintain their locality can market themselves, the development chances of rural settlements are increasing. The network developed by many small settlements participating in this movement has led to the formation of a globalized network. This network, which has started to contain contradictions in itself day by day, ensures the survival of some cities, while ensuring the development of not only themselves but also other cities in the network. Also, Cittaslow Network, which includes the principle of supporting each other, perhaps contains important steps for the self-repair and development of rural life.

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Özmen, A., Can, M.C.(2018) Cittaslow Hareketi’ne Eleştirel Bir Bakış, Planlama, 2018; 28(2): 91-101, doi: 10.14744/planlama.2018.95967

https://cittaslowturkiye.org/