Consuming space slowly: reflections on authenticity, place and the self

[Extract] Slow living may not necessarily be limited to particular places, but there are, nonetheless, certain kinds of spaces that best facilitate slow living and the value of these arises from a consideration of their contexts in the deterritorialised global culture in which we live (Parkins and Craig 2006, p. 63). Throughout the academic debates that engage in slow culture, there is a recurring theme of time. Indeed, throughout this volume, time is a prominent feature of analysis not just in relation to the clock or calendar. There is a need to consider time further in relation to all modes of temporality as well, including aging, natural rhythms and other 'times' which contribute to slow movements (cf. Adam 1990, 1995). It might be that in the future, theoretical engagement with slowness could embrace a 'timescape' project which encapsulates a range of temporalities that coalesce to create the potentiality of slow living (Adam 1998). For instance, nostalgia or at least a collective version of it (Davis 1979) could be seen as an important motivator to return back to the 'good ol' days before society became hyper-consumerist