Slowness in all its creative and emancipating forms, supported by the diverse movement of slow people around the world, challenges us to follow a sustainable development path, to transform the way we learn, work, and live.
Slow learning
The culture of restlessness and rootlessness has long set the pace, extreme flexibility has become the norm, new technology has become the new god. In a fast society, we are supposed to learn fast.
We are guided by words, images, sounds, and symbols that put us in motion. At the same time, we tend to ignore the need to slow down and reflect on the direction to be taken.
It is time to question, time to say goodbye to fast education and knowledge factories, time to practice slow learning. Slow knowledge and liberating words of wisdom are starting points for learning in a slow society.
Slow work
The fast work model has failed to meet the needs of today's people. It will likewise fail to meet the needs of tomorrow's people, and therefore has to be replaced. The ongoing shift to a slow society will necessarily be a slow work process, embedded within ecosystems and addressing the fundamental needs of people.
Slow work is work that strengthens our relationships to people and places, reduces our ecological footprint, and deepens our reverence and love for biological and cultural diversity. Slow work is creative and meaningful, and does not serve a ruling class.
Slow places
High speed has long been a symbol of personal freedom, a presumed right to drive cars and other motor vehicles without any consideration of its consequences. This distortion of the right to move freely is rapidly eroding local communities and global ecosystems. Accordingly, it has never been more important to reconfigure space, to reconnect places and communities.
A slow society is rooted in slow places. Slow places are places that help us to slow down and reflect, live mindfully, connect with people, and connect with nature. Slow places are car-free, ad-free, nonviolent, and welcoming, awakening a deep sense of belonging.
