Cittaslow (Slow City) is a rural development movement of small towns started in Italy in 1999.  The movement aims to improve their quality of life and sustainability by emphasizing the individual towns’ unique identities, the local asset-based economy, and by promoting an eco-friendly environment.  Cittaslow has rapidly grown into a transnational phenomenon.  In recent years, the movement has attracted increasing interest from shrinking towns in EU countries as a community revitalisation instrument.  In Japan, Chihō-sōsei (regional revitalisation) has been a top policy agenda, to create strategies for improving the quality of life in shrinking communities.  Various actors have developed different forms in movements to (re)settle in country side.   This workshop offers an opportunity for a transnational dialogue between scholars and practitioners of Japanese revitalization programmes, and key participants of the Cittaslow movement.

A full copy of the programme for the day can be viewed here.