Abstract
The aim of the study was to determine the impact of membership in Cittaslow on sustainable local development in the social, economic, and environmental fields, using Şavşat as an example. A two-component research model was designed for the research. In the first component of the research, questionnaires were used for the opinions of the local people. In the second component of the research, a criteria-based scoring system was developed that allows the monitoring of the temporal change in the level of meeting the Cittaslow membership criteria. According to the questionnaire results, it was seen that the Cittaslow movement had a positive effect on the sustainable local development of Şavşat in social, economic, and environmental terms, but this effect was still at a moderate level. According to the results of the criteria-based scoring system, while there was an increase of approximately 19% in the overall level of fulfillment of Cittaslow membership criteria in the 2015-2019 period, this increase was mostly related to the social dimension among the sustainability dimensions. To increase the positive effects of the Cittaslow approach on the sustainable local development of Şavşat in terms of variety and level of impact; it is important to make and implement plans for the entire district in line with the Cittaslow criteria and with a participatory understanding, to make an effort to ensure that the title is sufficiently owned by the all public and to continue the inter-institutional cooperation and works exhibited in the process of obtaining the title.