More and more people ask me about “Slow Town” - what is it? The Slow Town (Citta Slow) is part of the Slow Food movement that started in the 1990s in Tuscany, Italy. It has spread to other countries in Europe and also Australia. Matakana may be the first Slow Town (village) in New Zealand.
The criteria for becoming a Slow Town is actually coming out of AGENDA 21, based on becoming a sustainable community. Focusing on quality of life and sustainable use of natural resources, the local environment is valued and enhanced, local traditions are cherished, people friendly infrastructure is put in place and air and noise pollution is reduced. It includes eco-friendly architecture, aesthetic signage, low light pollution, promoting local healthy food, supporting local farmers and growers, Farmers Markets and creating awareness of healthy living. It also encourages citizen involvement in decision making and participating in local cultural events.
The Matakana Sustainable Development Plan is already a good beginning in this process. A sustainable community development plan needs to be a total water-catchment approach – water and food security is vital. In the case of Matakana we could have good drinking water coming from the Mt. Tamahunga catchment, delivered by gravity to the village. This would ensure the Matakana community has water in electricity outages. Some of the soils around the village are suitable for growing food – vegetables, fruit and berries. Matakana had the first exotic plant nursery in New Zealand. It was also a pear growing area in the early 1900s until 1927 when fire blight hit the area.
A sustainable community in a Slow Town also takes responsibility for its waste; used water should be recycled in the catchment, ideally applied on land to grow bio-mass for energy or soil creation.
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