Embracing the slow life: Assessing the performance of Turkey’s slow cities in promoting sustainable urban resilience

This study examines and interprets the position of a slow city, or "Cittaslow", within sustainable urban planning that was caused by the adverse effects of globalisation, the Industrial Revolution and modernism. "Cittaslow" in Turkey is evaluated based on slow city projects, and the senses of each city, taking into account the current situation of sustainable urban planning. It defines and analyses sustainable urban planning throughout time, and processes sustainability as a term in various approaches. Slow city membership criteria were analyzed for the selected 7 slow cities in Turkey and the results were presented. Throughout these evaluations and suggestions, it is observed that sustainable urban planning and the Cittaslow movement are parallel to each other regarding urban life indicators. Finally, it is concluded that by integrating the criteria of Cittaslow into the cities, the Cittaslow movement can be implemented as a local, sustainable city development model.