Slow Populations and Tourism

Abstract

Our initial perspective is that the dynamics of territories and cities/towns that are tourist resorts (or aspire to being one) can be analysed from the point of view of the ‘population’ concept, dear to a certain trend in socio-spatial analysis. Our chapter concentrates particularly on those who, by need or will, pass through places without their own vehicle, but using collective or public transport, as well as walking or cycling, rather than by walker or wheelchair. These ‘slow populations’ enter into a relation with the places they visit or stay at, with the people who live there and the other tourists, following certain methods of which we suggest a sort of classification, aimed at a better understanding of dynamics that are more or less sustainable from a social point of view, as well as from the environmental one. The authors reflect in particular on the intersection of fast flows, into which slow tourists have also penetrated, and slow itineraries or stays. In this respect an example is illustrated of tourism for slow populations coming from all over the world, in order to deepen their knowledge of the slow philosophy and discover Turin.