Cittàslow : fluctuating between improvement and commodification of quality of life. Two case studies : Abbiategrasso and Seferihisar

In the 21st century, as a result of improvement of mass production technologies and ICT revolution, products and ideas are moving all around the world at an incredible pace. Identical planning ideas or policies are being applied in different territories in order to take a part in the global competition of cities. Lieto (2013) argues that “Planning ideas cannot be viewed as facts or bare truth, least of all fixed “things” that can be moved from one city to another. Rather, they are myths”(p.1). Inappropriately, what we see in contemporary cities is contradictory to the thoughts of Lieto. This condition is same for the small towns. Saturnini, the founder of Cittaslow, has illustrated that “Cities are all becoming uniform; they are losing their identity, their soul. He recognised that, in the long run, cities would suffer for becoming large global metropolises with no local connections. In other words, cities will become “everywhere communities” (Calthorpe and Fulton cited in Radstrom, 2011) losing the sense of place which had defined them for centuries” (Radstrom, 2011, p.91). At that point, Cittaslow has arisen as a reaction to the severe effects in urban areas originating from homogenization. In contradiction, critics has emerged regards to Cittaslow vulnerability to global branding, and marketing approaches, that be influential for the cities’ economies and growth strategies. (Mayer, and Knox. 2010) According to these approaches, Cittaslow philosophy, and its international network will be analysed within two critical questions, first of them is: What kind of guidelines it offers to the small cities; whether the Cittaslow criteria offer a framework that helps to improve the quality of life or to commodify the good life? Eventually, this evaluation will enable to find out how the Cittaslow idea is being applied to the cities regards to ‘quality of life’, as well as, for whom? By establishing deeper knowledge of its criteria and organizational structure can lead the investigation into the answers of these questions, at the same time, an extensive critique of the Cittaslow network can be established with its strengths and weakness. At the same time two case studies, which are selected from different countries, will help us to observe how implication of Cittaslow policies differs in a diverse planning context. Abbiategrasso, a neighbour city of Milano and Seferihisar which is located within Izmir Metropolitan Region will be studied comprehensively.