Imagine a city where residents can access everything they need, from schools and hospitals to shopping and entertainment, all within the distance of a 15-minute walk or bike ride. That’s the basis of the 15-minute-city concept originally proposed in 2015 by Colombian-born, Paris-based urbanist, Professor Carlos Moreno of Pantheon Sorbonne University, Paris. Almost eight years later, this forward-thinking urban planning idea is the cause of wild conspiracy theories, with accusations ranging from restricted freedoms to concentration camp analogies.

What is the 15-minute-city?

Describing his concept as one diametrically opposite to modern urbanism, Moreno explains that cities should be designed or redesigned so that “within the distance of a 15-minute walk or bike ride, people should be able to live the essence of what constitutes the urban experience: to access work, housing, food, health, education, culture and leisure”.

His 15-minute-city aims to address the dysfunctions of modern cities where people have to commute long distances from their homes to reach their workplaces, send their children to school, shop for groceries, get medical care, or enjoy some entertainment.

The pandemic was, in many ways, an awakening for people when the lockdown restricted them to their homes, allowing them to get to know their neighbourhoods better as they shopped locally and created social connections.

By creating polycentric cities with more local services and economic activities, people will no longer need to go far to access what they need. Moreno’s model was not only endorsed by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) as a new concept for urban living, especially in the post-pandemic period to help achieve climate targets, but also welcomed by several mayors from across the world with many cities currently in the process of adopting the idea.

Moreno’s concept was at the heart of Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s successful re-election campaign in 2020. Hidalgo’s plans for turning Paris into a 15-minute-city include massive decentralisation by developing new services for each of the districts; reducing road traffic by increasing bike lanes; introducing new economic models to encourage local shops; building more green spaces; and transforming existing infrastructure to maximise the use of built space.

Moreno won the 2021 Obel Award for his work on the 15-minute-city, with the jury describing the concept as “an ambitious and complex urban strategy – but also a refreshingly pragmatic approach”.

“The 15-minute-city is an intuitive concept and has the capacity to deliver tangible change in people’s lives. The 15-minute-city model has already created real, positive change in cities as geographically and culturally diverse as Paris, Chengdu, Melbourne, and Bogotá,” the jury noted.

...and the conspiracy theories

However, Moreno’s concept has its detractors too who describe the model as dystopian and believe it would place restrictions on their use of personal vehicles, while raising the bogey of surveillance as a tool to confine them to their neighbourhoods. Protestors also fear that the model could become a coercive mechanism to adopt green measures such as expensive electric cars.

Conservative MP Nick Fletcher sought a discussion on the issue in the UK Parliament, warning that the "international socialist concept of so-called 15-minute cities and 20-minute neighbourhoods" would not only cause "untold economic damage" but also “take away personal freedoms as well”.

In Oxford city, the Oxfordshire County Council is proposing to install traffic filters as a trial on six roads with an aim to relieve serious traffic congestion. These traffic filters are not physical barriers but cameras that can read number plates. Vehicles that don’t have exemption or residents’ permits will be fined for using these roads during certain times of the day. These plans have already hit a roadblock with conspiracy theorists claiming that the Council intended to lock residents into one of the six zones and monitor their movements.

The city of Edmonton in Canada, which has also embraced the 15-minute-city concept, is facing protests from some residents who fear it would lead to covert surveillance, locking people up in their 15-minute zones, and loss of freedom to use their cars.

Moreno’s motives for his 15-minute-city concept are far from sinister. “I'm not angling for cities to become rural hamlets,” says Moreno. “Urban life is vibrant and creative. Cities are places of economic dynamism and innovation. But we need to make urban life more pleasant, agile, healthy and flexible. To do so, we need to make sure everyone – and I mean everyone, those living downtown and those living at the fringes – has access to all key services within proximity.”

Image credit: Emilie Koefoed for The Obel Award (Source: https://obelaward.org/the-15-minute-city/)