15 minute cities?

[MiniPocketWorld]

I know this was casually talked about a few times during 2020 " I wish everything I needed would be 15 minutes away, it would be so nice."
It was a general casual wish, a wish of life being easier in a difficult and unreliable time full of change and uncertainty.
The year 2023, some places have written up plans to try to implement this idea, some going as far as trying it out physically. You can read about the idea of 15 minute cities on the World Economic Forum. However, I'll share some bits of a from a city actually trying to physically implement it.

Oxford City UK

Duncan Enright, Oxfordshire County Council's cabinet member for travel and development strategy, explained the authority's traffic filter proposals in an interview in The Sunday Times.

Mr Enright said: "It is about making sure you have the community centre which has all of those essential needs, the bottle of milk, pharmacy, GP, schools which you need to have a 15-minute neighbourhood."

But Mr Enright told the Sunday Times: "It's going to happen definitely."

The new traffic filters on St Cross Road, Thames Street, Hythe Bridge Street and St Clements would operate seven days a week from 7am to 7pm.
Two more filters on Marston Ferry Road and Hollow Way would operate from Monday to Saturday.

People can drive freely around their own neighbourhood and can apply for a permit to drive through the filters, and into other neighbourhoods, for up to 100 days per year. This equates to an average of two days per week.

The alternative is to drive out on to the ring road and then back in to the destination.
A maximum of three permits a household will be allowed where there are several adults with cars registered to the address.

Buses, coaches, taxis, delivery vans, HGVs, motorbikes and bikes are exempt and there are exceptions for blue badge holders and people with caring responsibilities.

Quotes taken from Oxford Mail
People are concerned that this will hurt businesses, and make people's life more difficult for people who have relatives living in a different zone of the city from themselves. While the program is to help air pollution, residents are concerned it will cause more with the idling at filters. People are also concerned that this could lead to "bubble cities", cities that exist that everyone lives in.
On the other hand, I suppose it would encourage more walking, bike riding, and more businesses in a smaller area if you live in the city. If you live outside, I guess you'd have to travel to a city that doesn't implement this yet or move in. Will shops be corporation shops or mom and pop shops? Idk. And if another emergency happens (like covid) then I suppose people would be a little more contained.

What do you think of this living idea?
Likey? No likey?
Is there a better way or is it just bad?

I'm not sure about other countries, but USA (where I live) does have a problem in certain areas called a food desert already. A food desert is an area where there isn't fresh produce sold in a very large area. You would have to travel an hour or more by car to find a place that sells fresh produce. This is something that is hard on the poor and low income population and it effects the health of people. Would something like these 15 minute city ideas make that kind of situation worse or better? Maybe just worse or better for a short time and then flip to the opposite? How stable or reliable can this idea be?

 

[Flyffel]

First off, as an urban planner I can tell you that the 15 minute city isn't just something that has been casually talked about a few years ago but that it is a bit of an older idea and it has been a goal in several cities for years now~

Of course the 15 minute city is already a lived reality in many cities, so it's a concept to give a goal for cities where it isn't a reality yet.

However this talk of "traffic filters" etc. in this context is new to me and not a part of the 15 minute city concept as I know it. Please don't understand it as a part of the concept. At most it could be a measure amongst many others. Some traffic calming measures can definitely be a part of the concept although traffic filters with permits sound like an extreme solution to something that can probably be solved with less limiting measures such as planning "one way" roads and streetlights in a way which automatically directs district-foreign traffic to the big roads (because of sheer efficiency) but doesn't actually hinder anyone from driving to a place they need to visit. I wonder what the road network in Oxford is like that it drove them to such a solution.

The 15 minute city is about walkabity and spreading out amenities and daily destinations instead of concentrating everything for example in the city centre. It's about decentralisation and a human scale. It means planning cities for humans and not for cars and is linked to "New Urbanism".

 

[Millysaurusrexjr]

I really wish there were more cities/places in general that focused way less on cars and more on walkability/biking/public transportation. It's better for the environment and better for your health. Potentially better for your wallet too, since you wouldn't need to worry about gas/insurance/maintenance/etc.

I personally hate driving, I hate how car-dependant society is. I just want to walk everywhere. But walking in a lot of places is either difficult or almost impossible, because cars are prioritised. As a pedestrian you're lucky if you even get a sidewalk long enough to go somewhere substantial. Sometimes a sidewalk just ends halfway through a street?? There's a mall that is a 20 minute drive away from me that I could theoretically walk to, but there's literally no sidewalk for a third of the way.

And then there's public transportation. People don't want to wait for a long time at a bus stop, so they use a car instead, and then as a result, the bus route becomes less active. It's a vicious cycle. Public transportation needs to be made more reliable and more affordable.

Biking around? Forget about it, I would never. Not when the bike lane is just some paint on the road, and you have to share said road with other cars.

Once you've lived in a walkable city, you never want to go back to living any other way. I miss it.

 

[Croconaw]

As someone that has no desire to drive and doesn’t even have a license, I’d love a walkable city, lol. I wouldn’t drive enough to justify owning a car. It’s just cheaper and healthier to walk.

 

[Kitsuragi]

I'm horrified of driving. I had a friend get into an accident and died due to that accident during my senior year of high school. That's completely horrified me from driving. I'd rather not be forced into using a car, and i'd love for things to be walkable and convenient. It'd be super helpful for disabled folks, my partner is blind and has to rely on others to get anywhere.

 

[Xara]

the thought of ever being behind the wheel of a car is so terrifying to me. i know it would give me more freedom to be able to go further distances by myself, and my mom keeps trying to pressure me to get my license, but i just can’t do it. there’s so much you have to learn, and so much pressure. you hold so many people’s lives in your hands when you get behind the wheel of a car; your own, your passenger’s, everyone else on the road. and other drivers hold your life in their hands, and that’s scary. you have to trust them to be sober, to drive safely, to know what they’re doing. so much can go wrong. i don’t mind being the passenger in the car, i even like car rides, but it’s hell just being in them sometimes, i can’t imagine driving. no thanks.

i’ve actually never heard of 15 minute cities before, but i think they’re a good idea. cars really are just terrible for the environment, and not everyone can have or drive a car, whether it be for personal, financial, medical etc reasons. gas prices are also horrendous right now. my grandmother moved to a new city years ago to live with her son and daughter-in-law, and was literally stranded because she didn’t have a car and there was nothing nearby, and her son and dil had their cars with them every day for work. my mom would drive 40+ minutes to get to her in a different city just to drive her where she needed/wanted to go.

the city i live in isn’t 100% a 15 minute city, but it’s pretty close. i’m fortunate to live in an area where there’s a bunch of grocery stores, a doctor’s, a pharmacy and even a mall within walking distance. i do school virtually now, but there’s a couple schools within walking distance as well. i’m unemployed and likely won’t be able to get a job nearby, but there’s bus terminals everywhere in case i can’t/don’t want to travel by car.

i think 15 minute cities would be a great way to encourage more walking and biking. i know living in a 15 minute neighbourhood has encouraged me to walk where i need to go as much as possible if i’m able to.

 

[amemome]

I'd love to have walkable cities in general. I don't think everything needs to be 15 minutes away, but I want to be in a city that has reliable public transport that can get me all around. I hate living in a car-centric town and having to rely on my car to get anywhere, and would really rather be able to walk to the nearest bus stop or subway station to get to the downtown area/hospital/etc. I think it would be nice to save money on seriously expensive parking and to avoid bad/aggressive drivers.

 

[LadyDestani]

I wouldn't have a problem with 15 minute cities in areas that are already densely populated, but I don't think you could have them everywhere. Living in a rural area myself, I prefer things being spread out a bit with lots of nature interspersed. I wouldn't want to live in a true city surrounded by nothing but buildings and pavement. So as long as there were still options for both urban and rural living, I think it would be a good idea.

The idea of traffic filters and permits sounds terrible, though. So nobody could get a job in a different neighborhood, check in regularly on aging family members in a different neighborhood, or visit friends or partners frequently if they lived in a different neighborhood? That's too much regulation and restriction on people's freedom in my opinion.

 

[Seastar]

I never tried learning to drive and I really don't want to. Not only can so many things go wrong because bad drivers exist, but I couldn't possibly focus well enough to drive myself. I've noticed I daydream/drift away extremely easily. It has gotten to the point where I will miss parts of conversations and have to ask for them to be repeated. I wouldn't want to be put responsible for driving a car.
I can't really imagine what a 15 minute city would look like, but I hope it's a lot better than where I am because a lot of the places nearby are on a highway which doesn't feel safe for walking, though I say this as someone with terrible anxiety and hasn't walked around much.