slow down london

About

Slow Down London is a new project to inspire Londoners to improve their lives by slowing down to do things well, rather than as fast as possible.

The Slow Down London campaign held its first festival in Spring 2009 offering activities and inspiration, through working with a range of partners. It gave Londoners a chance to explore slow music and arts, to try meditation and yoga, to sample slow food and crafts, to discover 'slow travel' in our own city, to debate ideas about time and pace, and to find our own ways to challenge the cult of speed and to appreciate the world around us.

You can view the full event programme here: slow-down-london-events-programme. The first festival attracted wide national and international media coverage.

Slow Down London did not end with the festival. We are creating longer-term networks and opportunities for trying life at a slower pace and enjoying improved quality, creativity and wellbeing. Watch the website for developments, and for ongoing articles and ideas by a growing network of supporters. Contact us if you'd like to contribute.

Carl Honore

Carl Honoré – Patron

‘London is the perfect place to slow down. It combines the volcanic energy of a big city with architecture, green spaces and villagey streets that encourage us to stop and stare. Slow Down London will show how we can all get more out of life – and London – if we put on the brakes from time to time.’ Carl Honore is author of In Praise of Slow and Under Pressure.

Tessa Watt

Tessa Watt – Director

‘After years working as a producer at the BBC, and then running a big arts project, I’ve opted for a lifestyle that allows a bit more breathing space. The buzz and speed of London can be exhilarating, but when lunch becomes a sandwich at the computer and you hate the tourists for walking too slowly it must be time to slow down. Meditation and yoga, along with music and arts, are for me what helps create the space to appreciate life instead of rushing through it.’

Harry Eyres

Harry Eyres – Patron

‘London can seem the reverse of a slow city – chaotic, polluted, full of cars and hurried, harrassed people. But its ancient fabric is shot through with crevices where slowness can settle: wonderful free museums, quirky libraries, unexpected parks, gardens, allotments, waterways. Give yourself just a little time, and London will richly reward you: this is the message of Slow Down London and I thoroughly support it.’ Harry Eyres writes the Slow Lane column for the Financial Times.

Amanda Stone

Amanda Stone – Director

‘I grew up near the beach in Sydney which gave me an early experience of how to slow down in a big city…and how to play. I still love water, and swimming at Hampstead heath is one of my favourite slow activities – but only in Summer. Otherwise, I walk in London’s woods and parks and hang out in cafes with a book and watch the world go by. And I love yoga – lying down to start a yoga session is the best way for me to slow down.’

ed gillespie

Ed Gillespie – Patron

‘Cycle down a back street or wander round your local market on foot. Lie in a park and watch the clouds roll overhead or look at the architecture above the shop fronts on the high street. Switch off your phone, step away from the crowds, off the urban escalator and watch as a different London reveals itself. Slow down…you might even like what you see!’ Ed Gillespie’s ‘Slow Travel’, voyage around the world was recorded at lowcarbontravel.com, and in the Guardian and Observer.

Deepa Patel

Deepa Patel – Director

‘My journey to slowness started 6 years ago, after a near fatal asthma attack had me reassessing the speed at which I was leading life. Between work and a hunger to take in all that London offers I had little time to relax. Slowing down has been a SLOW process! Often two steps back and one forward. But life today is different: less multitasking, more attention to what is in front of me; less busyness and more time doing nothing which has led to more spontaneity and chance to truly enjoy this city.’

c.Chris Floyd

Tom Hodgkinson – Patron

‘The flâneurs of 19th century Paris loved to amble purposelessly around the city, and they were known to take a tortoise with them on their walks, because they liked to let the tortoise set the pace. This is the spirit of Slow London: cities can be enjoyed if we learn to cycle slow, walk slow, sit down on park benches for long periods and consider the lilies.’ Tom Hodgkinson is the editor of The Idler and author of How to be Idle

Alastair Sawday – Patron

‘It is great to see the Slow movement reaching London. I have seen it at work in Italy and it is a powerful response to the madness of our age. Its genius is that it can be enjoyed at every level. It can be frivolous, entertaining, provocative and radical. You can enter it through many doors. Eat Slow, and relish every bite; travel Slow, and have as much fun as ever. But don’t be fooled; this is an idea in deadly earnest, and deserves our deep respect.’ Alastair Sawday is the writer of many travel guide books including Go Slow England.

Professor Cary Cooper – Patron

‘Over the last decade and a half we have effectively Americanized the British workplace and society in general. We now have the longest working hours in Europe, where people are arriving earlier and staying later at work, where the pace of life is so frenetic that people have little time to engage and invest in meaningful relationships and maintain good balance in their lives. Most of the happiness indices indicate that it is not money that drives people’s satisfactions but their relationships, and time is critical in developing these.’ Professor Cary Cooper, CBE is Distinguished Professor of Organizational
Psychology and Health at Lancaster University, and author of A Brief History of Stress.