Slow movement (culture)

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The slow movement is a cultural movement which advocates slowing down the pace of human life. It has been suggested that the movement emerged from the slow food movement, and Carlo Petrini's 1986 protest against the opening of a McDonald's restaurant in the Piazza di Spagna, Rome.^[1][2] Over time, this developed into a worldwide 'slow' subculture^{[citation needed]}, through a range of initiatives such as the Cittaslow organisation for "slow cities".

Geir Berthelsen's The World Institute of Slowness^[3] presented a vision in 1999 for an entire "slow planet" and a need to teach the world the way of slowness. In Carl Honoré's 2004 book, In Praise of Slow, he describes the slow movement as:

"a cultural revolution against the notion that faster is always better. The Slow philosophy is not about doing everything at a snail's pace. It's about seeking to do everything at the right speed. Savoring the hours and minutes rather than just counting them. Doing everything as well as possible, instead of as fast as possible. It's about quality over quantity in everything from work to food to parenting."^[4]

Professor Guttorm Fløistad summarises the philosophy, stating:

"The only thing for certain is that everything changes. The rate of change increases. If you want to hang on, you better speed up. That is the message of today. It could however be useful to remind everyone that our basic needs never change. The need to be seen and appreciated! It is the need to belong. The need for nearness and care, and for a little love! This is given only through slowness in human relations. In order to master changes, we have to recover slowness, reflection and togetherness. There we will find real renewal."^[5]

The slow movement is not organized or controlled by a single organization.^{[citation needed]} A fundamental characteristic of the slow movement is that it is propounded, and its momentum is still maintained, by individuals who constitute an expanding global community.^{[citation needed]}