Degrowth in Practice? Unraveling the Post-Political Effects of Slow City (Cittaslow) Movement in the Anatolian Town of Halfeti Xalfetî

Summary, in English

In this article, we argue that Slow City processes in Halfeti are used as a strategy to preclude the uncertainty in its development path, especially in view of the effects of Birecik Dam on the town. By using Swyngedouw’s post-political critique, we further argue that Slow City’s goals to ensure sustainability in the context of Halfeti serve to depoliticize the problems related to infrastructure, environmental degradation, and lost income sources after the Birecik Dam construction as well as the political conflicts between Kurdish and Turkish municipalities. In addition to that, we aim to question the adequacy of Slow City ideals in pursuing sustainability. This article is structured as follows. The first part explores the goals and experiences of the Slow City network and positions Slow City as post-political. In the second part, we detail the emergence of the Slow City network in Turkey and our case in Halfeti. The third part discusses Slow City in Halfeti as a mechanism of depoliticization by showing empirical evidence. Finally, we conclude the article by summarizing our points, discussing further challenges in implementing Slow City projects, and reflecting on their implications for the ways in which degrowth is understood.

• Author: Mine Islar; Gökhan Gulbandilar
• Editor: Ekaterina Chertkovskaya; Alexander Paulsson; Stefania Barca
• Department/s: LUCSUS (Lund University Centre for Sustainability Studies)
• Publishing year: 2019
• Language: English
• Publication/Series: Transforming Capitalism
• Document type: Book chapter
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Topic: Environmental Sciences; Social Sciences Interdisciplinary
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISBN: 978-1-78660-897-0; ISBN: 1786608960; ISBN: 978-1-78660-895-6; ISBN: 978-1-78660-896-3