No Need To Be Far Off The Grid To Have A Lifestyle That Allows You To Slow Down To The Speed Of Life

What factors make up the power of slow living places?

Hello out there - in a rushed world looking for some sanity and serenity!

Here is some input for getting clarity and confidence to pursue the power of slow and to smile wearily at the absurdity of rushing.

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No Need To Be Far Off The Grid To Have A Lifestyle That Allows You To Slow Down To The Speed Of Life

What factors make up the power of slow-living places?

There are places that embrace slow living, and there are places where you can create your slow living. “Slow” - not in the sense that these places are sleepy, nothing is happening, or that the main residents are retired. You don’t need to be far off in the countryside to have the advantages of a lifestyle that allows you to slow down to the speed of life.

I want to show you that slow-living places are not necessarily about living in a quiet place or living off the grid. There are cities and towns where local authorities create an environment that helps their citizens to enjoy a slower life in a fast-moving world. And if you don’t live in such a place or the quieter countryside, you can always find and create your own islands in crazy bustling cities.

SLOW - as in not running around like a headless chicken

Slow is the countermovement to a society based on speed, rushing, and productivity.

Slow LIVING – as in not burning out

The idea behind slow living is to live, work, and act with a balanced mind, with intention, consideration, and long-term consistency.

Speed can be exciting in the right circumstances. But rushing through life, merely skimming the surface, is quite the opposite. You miss out on what is exhilarating in life.

Slow living is about doing things at the right and more human speed. By slowing down, you switch off the state of autopilot life. It means being aware of what is going on and staying calm in the eye of the storm.

What are Slow-living PLACES?

Slow-living places are environments that don’t stress you out because of their noise, busyness, and hecticness. We live in an accelerating society characterized by a constant increase in the pace of life. We all suffer from this, regardless of our position. No wonder that we all feel rushed.

Overcrowded and unorganized places can drive you crazy. Whereas a city's cleanliness, efficient public transport, and proximity to nature help to be less agitated and stressed out and everyone can calm down a bit and not be bitchy and annoyed with each other.

There are different ways to look at places and make you feel like you are in a slow-living environment. There are even big cities you can consider as slow living spaces due to their connection to the quality of life they offer. If certain parameters are met the overall stress level goes down. Human interaction, one’s well-being, and performance at work improve. When cities around the world are evaluated about their quality of life status (to create the Best-Places-To-Live lists) they look at parameters such as citizen security, social and economic prosperity, level of education, healthcare system, leisure time, standard of living, and quick access to outdoors and nature.

The efforts pay off in creating a calm and orderly community. A citizen in Switzerland for example appreciates the government’s initiatives that contribute to a higher quality of life.

 “It's like we are protected from the big threats and stresses that I now find palpable in other places. There is positive energy without stress."

Let’s look at a country – as a slow-living place

Switzerland shows that its policies have a nationwide positive impact on the pace of life. Generally, the cities in Switzerland are all close to nature, which contributes highly to residents' well-being. The Swiss claim to appreciate that governmental and cultural norms allow ample time and space to enjoy nature and the outdoors.

“Social and family life are prioritized here, which can lead to a slower pace of life. When you enter Switzerland (…) nobody is in a rush – rushing is considered something done by disorganized people. Everyone goes for their daily walks, fixed working hours are practically a religion, no long commutes, few traffic jams, and people take time to sit down to eat and drink with scarce takeaway options”, describes an article on the world’s most livable areas in August 2024.

Switzerland recognizes that contact with nature is essential for well-being, and this concept is factored into the planning of cities and living spaces. Forests reach into the city, and natural rivers and streams run through the city rather than being diverted, so everyone can always access nature.

Any place that offers easy accessibility to the outdoors, intercity reliable public transportation systems, bike lanes, or technology services sets itself apart with factors that make life more convenient in a city, region, or country. These factors ease and please your life, which makes it easier to feel less stressed, which means you are in a slow-living place.

Let’s look at a region – as a slow-living place

The autonomous province of South Tyrol is Italy’s ruggedly outdoorsy, clean-energy-advanced, slow-living region. It’s a future-facing region where deep-rooted sustainability, alpine traditions, and a focus on the homegrown have always been the way of life. This previously German-Austrian region in the very north of Italy combines the best of two worlds: German industriousness and orderliness with the Italian la dolce vita. It has been part of Italy (since 1919), but it kept its long history of German Austrian culture (since 1363). The first language is German, and so are their cultural festivals, traditions, and names. Blend the Austrian cuisine with the Italian, add some Italian expressions here and there, embrace the Italian espresso and incredible wine, and come out with a lifestyle where people here are reliable and relaxed at the same time. Slow living at its best. (I can attest to that. I live there.)

No matter where you live in this region, you have immediate access to nature, you can get everywhere easily with public transportation (even up into the mountains), the connection to their traditions results in the production of local produce and crafts, people sit in cafes and chat and not type.

Let’s look at a bustling city – as a slow-living place

Vienna is a city with a population of 2 Million and claims the title of the world's most liveable city for the third consecutive year (2024). Places are evaluated across parameters such as stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure. Melbourne has 5 million people and its residents, despite housing challenges, rave about Melbourne’s cultural diversity, culinary scene, and overall quality of life. So we are not talking about small, countryside’ish cities. In Vienna, you can turn on the tap to drink a glass of fresh spring water. Throughout the city, small green oases are being created where parking spaces once were, and residents can take responsibility for these islands by growing vegetables or planting flowers.

What are overlapping characteristics – that make a place less stressful?

• When you are in a place where social and family life is prioritized, this can lead to a slower pace of life.

• These are places where kids can walk to school by themselves from an early age, and you don’t need to worry about them. No hustle and bustle driving them into a traffic jam or jamming them into school buses.

• You are in the right place when you are around people who consider rushing as something done by disorganized people.

• Slow-living areas are where everyone goes for their daily walks or where places are walkable, and you can do all your errands by just walking to the baker, the grocery store, or the café.

• When you see people bicycling to work or when there are no long commutes and few traffic jams.

• Places where people take time to sit down to eat and drink or sit in a café with a friend and not with a laptop.

• When traffic slows down because you are stuck behind a tractor. (No joke. Happens to me all the time.)

• When there are a lot of green spaces, like trees in the streets, small parks, gardens, benches at a riverfront, outdoor sporting areas, and bike lanes.

• Places that have small shops or individual boutiques with crafts, jewelry makers, creative design items, bookstores, or one-person fashion designers all make you slow down and enjoy yourself.

Anything that makes you slow down, see, notice, watch, enjoy, smile, and calm down for a moment is an advantage of slow living.

What are the options?

Perhaps you are already living in a city or town that makes you feel less stressed and has characteristics of slow living. But if you live instead in a place that feels bustling, stressful, fast, and unpleasant, and you don’t have the chance to move, you can venture out and explore your city to find “your slow” parts of the place. Is there a park you never knew about? Are there pretty streets with flowers or nice-colored houses you have never seen before? Are there areas that changed and have now cafés and little cute shops you missed out on because you knew that neighborhood from years ago where it had nothing to offer, and you scratched it off your list?

Last week, we visited friends outside of Milan for the 97^th birthday party of the father of a friend. Before the party started, we went for a stroll through the neighborhoods. The area had tremendously changed from the times when he grew up there, explained our friend. The first part of the walk made me think, Oh my god, I would never want to live here! It felt like Naples in its worst neighborhoods. Then, he walked us through a different part of town, the historic center, where it was clean and green. It felt “slower” because it was less noisy, with fewer people, and it radiated a calm atmosphere.

So, I was thinking that if I HAD to live here, I would focus my social life, leisure time, or running errands on areas in the city that make me feel good and that offer me slow living aspects, so I feel less stressed, and less hurried or annoyed. Areas with nice architecture, fewer people, nice shops, or some green or a park.

There are always options. If your environment makes you stressed out, aggressive, and unhappy, find your niche. Venture out and explore your city to find “your slow” parts of the place. Make it your slow-living place that helps you to live at your own pace so you can stay connected with yourself and do things in tune with your personal rhythm.