Everything you need in 15 minutes? The ideal city of the future
Publishing Solutions Group
Full-service content development for Pre-K-16 educational and professional learning services. Certified WBE.
By Lucy Rime
Spring 2024 Intern
Introduction: My 15-minute city experience
When I went abroad in the Fall of 2022, I lived for four months in the walkable city of Florence, Italy. Not only was the grocery store a 3-minute walk from my apartment and all of my school buildings within 15 minutes, but I was 5 minutes away from the Duomo and 10 minutes from the Ponte Vecchio, two of the most popular landmarks in Florence. Every day, I could walk wherever I needed to go, getting my steps in and familiarizing myself with the beautiful Renaissance city. It was not until I returned to the States in December that I realized just how convenient and enjoyable it was to be able to get anything I needed just by stepping outside my apartment and taking my own two feet there. Living in a 15-minute city showed me how much I did not enjoy driving in my car to get places, and I quickly missed my old lifestyle. Let’s go over some reasons why this concept is growing in popularity and why perhaps you, too, could benefit from living in these places!
What is a 15-minute city?
According to urbanists Andre Duany and Robert Steuteville, a 15-minute city can be defined as an ideal geography where most human needs and many desires are located within a travel distance of 15 minutes. The idea was first coined in 2016 by Carlos Moreno, an urbanist and professor at Sorbonne University in Paris. Moreno believes city residents should have easy access to shops, schools, doctors, gyms, parks, restaurants, and cultural institutions. This concept has only grown in popularity since the global pandemic began in 2020, discouraging many from traveling and venturing out for necessities. According to the NLC, “The concept integrates transportation planning, urban design, mixed-use development, safety on streets and sidewalks, with policy-making and the real-life experiences of residents to allow for more freedom of mobility and increased opportunity.”
What are the benefits of living in a 15-minute city?
The most crucial benefit of living in a 15-minute city is, of course, having close access to necessities and perhaps fun restaurants and forms of entertainment. The ability to walk or bike wherever you need to go also increases time outdoors and encourages exercise. However, there are environmental benefits from 15-minute cities as well. In fact, this is one of the main reasons why cities such as Portland, Oregon, have been looking to adapt and make themselves one. According to Moreno, 15-minute cities reduce the amount of planet-warming gasses such as carbon dioxide released by cars, as more people walking and biking means fewer cars on the road every day. Reducing emissions is a key goal of climate change acts worldwide. Not only that, but to accommodate and build minute cities, jobs will form to help improve bike lanes and sidewalks so that more people can travel safely by foot. A study by the American Association for State Highway and Transportation Officials claims that “mobility investments in things like bike infrastructure and sidewalks create more jobs per million dollars spent than other traditional transportation investments.” The 15-minute city can also foster community and improve the local economy, as it encourages people to spend more time within the neighborhood and perhaps return and rely on the same places for the things they need and want.?
Examples of 15-minute cities and cities on the path to becoming one
According to Deutsche Welle, there are 16 cities worldwide that have implemented plans to become 15-minute cities or something similar. One of the most popular examples, predictable since Carlos Moreno is from there, is Paris, France. The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, began implementing concepts for the 15-minute city during the pandemic. Barcelona has also been trying to incorporate “super districts,” in which only residents and delivery services will have car access, with a dramatically reduced speed limit. Portland, Oregon, as mentioned previously, began to implement the concept of the “20-minute neighborhood” in 2010, to make 90% of the city easily walkable/bikeable to meet all basic needs by 2030. Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is also on the path to becoming a 15-minute city by 2030, and Oxford, UK, has incorporated the concept into its 2040 plan. Throughout the world, different areas are trying to become the next 15-minute city, hoping to gain the benefits and the convenience that they offer.?
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Challenges with 15-minute cities (optional, may not necessarily need to be included)
In the United States, in particular, there are growing obstacles and challenges that make it hard to increase the amount of 15-minute cities throughout the country. NPR goes through some of these challenges, explaining how sometimes banks are reluctant to offer loans for the kind of infrastructure and development building that 15-minute cities require. Parking lots are another huge problem, taking up space but being necessary for city inhabitants. A big issue as well is public schools. It is not rare for parents to leave the city for the suburbs after having children because they believe the schools are better there. According to Carrie Makarewicz, an urban and regional planning professor at the University of Colorado, Denver, “If we want regional sustainability, we have to look to these urban places and why aren't people staying in them and thriving in them, and a lot of it comes back down to the urban schools.” To keep people living in the city, schools must be monitored and evaluated to make sure they are providing quality education. This way, children within those neighborhoods can maintain a proper education and parents won’t find the need to look elsewhere. Zoning restrictions are perhaps the biggest challenge for these cities, as they challenge how a city can develop and organize according to what is necessary or desired within that area. According to Bloomberg, however, “loosening just a few zoning regulations can allow pharmacies, grocery stores, gyms, and music shops to pop up on ground floors and empty suburban lots. Where a 15-minute city is unfeasible, turning a 40-minute city into a 35-minute city would be worthwhile, too.” The more cities look into what is possible, the more likely that aspects of a 15-minute city will become more prevalent in the future.?
Looking for more information or curious about what the process of building a 15-minute city looks like? Check out “The 15-Minute City Project” on Instagram and Twitter. These accounts highlight efforts around the world to create more of these places, and there is a blog for the project as well!
Did You Know?
The most walkable city in the United States is New York, New York, and the most walkable city in the world is Florence, Italy, where I went abroad! Walkscore.com gives Florence a perfect score, calling it a “walker’s paradise” since daily errands do not require a car. New York, meanwhile, has a walk score of 88 on this website.
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