Taking It Day-By-Day: An Exploratory Study of Adult Perspectives on Slow Living in an Urban Setting

This study is based within a local context and is focused on a number of adults within a family setting who had transitioned to a slower lifestyle. The key purpose of the study was to uncover their motivations and the challenges they faced in changing their lifestyle and how they interpreted their slower life. The participants for this study were recruited using my own contacts and through a number of organizations that supported alternative lifestyles. Focus groups were used to elicit information through discussion on a range of issues related to the realities of this lifestyle. This method allowed participants’ voices to be expressed and heard first-hand and as a result five key themes emerged from the data. The themes included the ethics and principles of living a slow life, the impact on family life and leisure, and issues to do with work, technology, media and money.