The Speed Trap

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Amsterdam's efforts have been widely imitated around the world by advocates of traffic calming, a burgeoning popular movement that seeks to improve safety and environmental quality by reducing the speed of cars. The spread of traffic-calming techniques like speed bumps throughout Europe, Australia, and now North America provides a sterling example of how a grassroots movement can bring about the slowing down of society.

This idea of calming could be taken out of the streets and into workplaces, government, and civic organizations. It's true that transnational corporations wield near autocratic authority in today's global economy, but a spirited worldwide campaign for shorter work hours, more vacation, and a less intense work pace might crystallize worker discontent into a potent political force that would undermine that power. Juliet Schor contends that additional leisure time, not further economic growth, will be the chief political goal of the coming age. (We've already seen the start, with women's groups and labor unions leading a successful campaign for family leave policies in American workplaces.)

But before any political movement can take hold, people need to begin thinking differently about speed and how important it really is. For 150 years we've been told (and believed) that the future will inevitably be faster than the present and that this is the best way to broaden human happiness. And speed has brought major improvements to our world. But in taking advantage of its possibilities, we have become blind to its drawbacks. While the acceleration of life that started with the first steam locomotive didn't crush our bones, it may have crushed our spirits. Our lives have grown so hurried and so hectic that we often don't take in the thrill of a sunset, the amusement of watching a youngster toddle down the sidewalk, or the good fortune of bumping into a friend at a bookstore. We can regain the joy of those things without giving up the World Wide Web, ambulance service, and airline flights to Amsterdam. Rather than accept that the world offers just one speed, we have the privilege, as Ezio Manzini says, of "designing" our lives.

How does Manzini himself do it? "Like everybody's, my life is in a hurry," he admits. "When I am at work I'm in the machine, and there is nothing I can do to move slow. But I try to be conscious that it is not a good way to live. And when I leave work, I try to switch off--slow down and do things that make me feel good, like go out to the country and relax. This is what you might call selective slowness. It's the beginning of consciousness that you can get out of the machine."

Wolfgang Sachs, who is project director of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Energy, and the Environment in Wuppertal, Germany, says, "It's a struggle for me to slow down, as it is with many people. But the key is to be able to dedicate yourself to the proper rhythm, geared to what you are doing, whether you are playing with a child, writing a paper, or talking to friends." One thing that keeps his life from whirling out of control is walking to work each day. Those strolls offer him 20 minutes each morning and evening when he's out of reach of the rushing insistence of the modern world.

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