Slow Cities: Conquering Our Speed Addiction for Health and Sustainability demonstrates, counterintuitively, that reducing the speed of travel within cities saves time for residents and creates more sustainable, liveable, prosperous and healthy environments. This book examines the ways individuals and societies became dependent on transport modes that required investment in speed. Using research from multiple disciplinary perspectives, the book demonstrates ways in which human, economic and environmental health are improved with a slowing of city transport. It identifies effective methods, strategies and policies for decreasing the speed of motorised traffic and encouraging a modal shift to walking, cycling and public transport. This book also offers a holistic assessment of the impact of speed on daily behaviours and life choices, and shows how a move to slow down will - perhaps surprisingly - increase accessibility to the city services and activities that support healthy, sustainable lives and cities. - Includes cases from cities in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australasia - Uses evidence-based research to support arguments about the benefits of slowing city transport - Adopts a broad view of health, including the health of individuals, neighbourhoods and communities as well as economic health and environmental health - Includes text boxes, diagrams and photos illustrating the slowing of transport in cities throughout the world, and a list of references including both academic sources and valuable websites

Burned-out after years of doing development work around the world, William Powers spent a season in a 12-foot-by-12-foot cabin off the grid in North Carolina, as recounted in his award-winning memoir Twelve by Twelve. Could he live a similarly minimalist life in the heart of New York City? To find out, Powers and his wife jettisoned 80 percent of their stuff, left their 2,000-square-foot Queens townhouse, and moved into a 350-square-foot “micro-apartment” in Greenwich Village. Downshifting to a two-day workweek, Powers explores the viability of Slow Food and Slow Money, technology fasts and urban sanctuaries. Discovering a colorful cast of New Yorkers attempting to resist the culture of Total Work, Powers offers an inspiring exploration for anyone trying to make urban life more people- and planet-friendly.

Slow Food began in the late 1980s as a response to the spread of fast food establishments and as a larger statement against globalization and the perceived deterioration of modern life. Since then, slow practices have permeated into other areas, including cities and territories and travel and tourism. This book provides an in-depth examination of slow food, tourism and cities, demonstrating how these elements are intertwined with one other as part of the modern search for "the good life." Part 1 locates the slow concept within the larger social setting of modernity and investigates claims made by the slow movement, examining aesthetic and instrumental values inherent to it. Part 2 explores the practices and places of slow, containing both conceptual and empirical chapters in Italy, the birthplace of the movement. Part 3 provides a comparative perspective by examining the practices in Spain, the UK, Germany and Canada. Slow Tourism, Food and Cities offers key theoretical insights and alternative perspectives on the varying practices and meanings of slow from a cultural, sociological and ethical perspective. It is a valuable text for students and scholars of sociology, geography, urban studies, social movements, travel and tourism, and food studies.

A new way forward for sustainable quality of life in cities of all sizes Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Build American Prosperity is a book of forward-thinking ideas that breaks with modern wisdom to present a new vision of urban development in the United States. Presenting the foundational ideas of the Strong Towns movement he co-founded, Charles Marohn explains why cities of all sizes continue to struggle to meet their basic needs, and reveals the new paradigm that can solve this longstanding problem. Inside, you’ll learn why inducing growth and development has been the conventional response to urban financial struggles—and why it just doesn’t work. New development and high-risk investing don’t generate enough wealth to support itself, and cities continue to struggle. Read this book to find out how cities large and small can focus on bottom-up investments to minimize risk and maximize their ability to strengthen the community financially and improve citizens’ quality of life. Develop in-depth knowledge of the underlying logic behind the “traditional” search for never-ending urban growth Learn practical solutions for ameliorating financial struggles through low-risk investment and a grassroots focus Gain insights and tools that can stop the vicious cycle of budget shortfalls and unexpected downturns Become a part of the Strong Towns revolution by shifting the focus away from top-down growth toward rebuilding American prosperity Strong Towns acknowledges that there is a problem with the American approach to growth and shows community leaders a new way forward. The Strong Towns response is a revolution in how we assemble the places we live.

Taking a global and multidisciplinary approach, The SAGE International Encyclopedia of Travel and Tourism brings together a team of international scholars to examine the travel and tourism industry, which is expected to grow at an annual rate of four percent for the next decade. In more than 500 entries spanning four comprehensive volumes, the Encyclopedia examines the business of tourism around the world paying particular attention to the social, economic, environmental, and policy issues at play. The book examines global, regional, national, and local issues including transportation, infrastructure, the environment, and business promotion. By looking at travel trends and countries large and small, the Encyclopedia analyses a wide variety of challenges and opportunities facing the industry. In taking a comprehensive and global approach, the Encyclopedia approaches the field of travel and tourism through the numerous disciplines it reaches, including the traditional tourism administration curriculum within schools of business and management, economics, public policy, as well as social science disciplines such as the anthropology and sociology. Key features include: More than 500 entries authored and signed by key academics in the field Entries on individual countries that details the health of the tourism industry, policy and planning approaches, promotion efforts, and primary tourism draws. Additional entries look at major cities and popular destinations Coverage of travel trends such as culinary tourism, wine tourism, agritourism, ecotourism, geotourism, slow tourism, heritage and cultural-based tourism, sustainable tourism, and recreation-based tourism Cross-references and further readings A Reader’s Guide grouping articles by disciplinary areas and broad themes

With a new introduction for the paperback. London is a supreme achievement of civilization. It offers fulfilments of body and soul, encourages discovery and invention. It is a place of freedom, multiplicity and co-existence. It is a Liberal city, which means it stands for values now in peril. London has also become its own worst enemy, testing to destruction the idea that the free market alone can build a city, a fantastical wealth machine that denies too many of its citizens a decent home or living. In this thought-provoking, fearless, funny and subversive book, Rowan Moore shows how London’s strength depends on the creative and mutual interplay of three forces: people, business and state. To find responses to the challenges of the twenty-first century, London must rediscover its genius for popular action and bold public intervention. The global city above all others, London is the best place to understand the way the world’s cities are changing. It could also be, in the shape of a living, churning city of more than eight million people, the most powerful counter-argument to the extremist politics of the present.

Inland territories are currently of great interest in the tourism industry based on their natural and cultural resources, the surroundings and valuing of natural spaces, local traditions and cultures, ways of life, and the experiences of territories with authenticity. In this context, ecocultural resources are determining factors of development for the mobilization of economic and socio-cultural initiatives, promoting tourism and generating conditions of sustainability in inland territories. They are spaces of opportunity, maintaining resources and heritage with high preservation, enhancing new perceptions and forms of use, generating territorial cohesion, promoting self-esteem for local communities, and providing diverse and differentiated tourist experiences. The involvement of the community is decisive in valuing the destination, understanding local ecocultural realities, and developing the processes of preservation and service creation. It is considered a necessary approach for inclusion, protection, and aggregating the ecological and cultural binomial as a determinant for deeper knowledge of territorial realities and their specificities. Thus, sustainability and participation are crucial for the long-term future of inland tourism activities, with local governance assuming an important role in building tourism capacity, mobilizing resources, and streamlining entrepreneurial initiatives. Challenges and New Opportunities for Tourism in Inland Territories: Ecocultural Resources and Sustainable Initiatives provides knowledge on the trends for tourism in inland territories, territorial innovation, good governance practices, new projects in inland tourism, and other important aspects in the field. The topics covered include sustainability of local culture, cultural heritage, social responsibility, local governance, public policies, and innovation and tourism in inland territories. This book is essential for tourism management organizations, environmentalists, hotel managers, restaurateurs, tourism departments, practitioners, policymakers, public officials, researchers, academicians, and students interested in the innovative practices and initiatives in tourism with a specific focus on inland territories.