15-Minute Cities
The presentation of ideas about 15-minute cities can sound really good. Many people point out the possibility that it improves the ability to ‘control’ citizens and that it is in alignment with the World Economic Forum and globalism.
Included in this newsletter:
- 5.5-minute video on 15-minute cities
- Deloitte presentation
- Reader/viewer comments
-Wikipedia excerpt
Below is a (5.5 minute) video that seems reasonable, not overselling. Please watch that and read the comments I’ve gathered that mention possible negative aspects. As always do your own research and make your own decisions.
I’ve also included a couple of other items you may find educational.
I don’t know if it’s being ignored, but it’s certainly not being addressed or discussed. Perhaps there’s more to the plan than ‘they’ are telling us. Remember, when you read or hear one side of a story that there is another side to consider.
Consider possible concerns that are not addressed. When I was a paralegal, one thing to look for in contracts was what is missing. For example, a contract says Party A will buy Party B’s product. The contract can name a price, a quantity, a delivery date, due date for payment, etc., and everything sounds complete. Keep thinking. What’s missing? Consequences? What kind of consequences? For what events? There are at least three I could name. I hope that helps you question things.
Below is a study by Deloitte consulting firm on urban planning.
Below are some thoughts and comments offered by responders to the various articles and videos I saw during my research. Consider these in addition to what else you’ve seen and heard.
…the creation of dense, walkable urban cores often leads to gentrification or displacement of lower-income residents to outlying neighborhoods due to rising property values
Will your 15-minute city have a power grid? Once it’s established with businesses and residents - all high rise bldgs? then implementing change like rationing power - such as brownouts - will there be wind and solar ‘goals’? what about recycling? Where will the food production happen???
…areas with low walkability tend to have a higher proportion of children.
… development of the city dense enough to support all necessary services within a 15-minute walk.?
…but manufacturing left, jobs moved out, superstores came in and the local businesses started to close.
What % of the pop can’t walk or bike 15 minutes, and how many parents of multiple children could manage trailing little ones who maybe can’t walk yet? Two kids ages under 6 would be a hardship to walk or bike with.
…housing costs. It's a known fact that, as you get closer to a dense, "urbanized" area, the cost of housing starts to skyrocket, to the point where you can easily find yourself paying double or even triple for a house or apartment in a dense urban area than its equivalent in a more sprawled suburban or rural area. This is because property evaluators tend to treat proximity to shops, services, and entertainment as a luxury, and thus increase the price accordingly. The more things you're within walking distance of, the more the price gets jacked up. Thus, any decent place in a major urban hub becomes a luxury reserved for the elite, with the "commoners" being shoved into tiny apartments that are falling apart at the seams. Many people see this and deem that the minor conveniences of walkability aren't worth the immense costs. If walkable communities are to replace suburban sprawl, this problem has to be solved first and foremost.
…all rentals, no ownership? Size of available residences? Need 3 bedrooms? Disabled or elderly yourself, or your live-in parents. 3 generations/extended family…
For those with multiple health concerns, what about multiple specialized doctors? Cancer, diabetes, allergy, dermatology, ophthalmologist - you get the idea. And if they are outside your 15-minute city, does the transportation take you door-to-door? In a workable timeframe?
What about safety or crime? You get one group of lawbreakers in an area that size, and it can completely stop the walkability and bike-ability. What about good and continuing maintenance of walking and biking areas? Can that be assumed forever?
weather!!! bugs!!! darkness!!! 3:00am and your child needs cough syrup… Or your daughter is sick and you are a single parent, can’t take her, but can’t leave her to run to the store…
hospitals? ambulances? city services like garbage?
You have a family of 6, 2 adults and 4 kids and you have to shop for groceries. NO CAR, how do you carry all those groceries? WAGON? Baby stroller? Guess you will have to shop almost DAILY, and on top of working, then shopping then making dinner, JUST DOESN"T MAKE SENSE. Your child is sick, guess you are going to take him or her to the hospital on a bike? Or WALK THEM TO THE HOSP, NOT Gonna happen! You have those 4 kids, it's SNOWING, or maybe Pouring Down Rain, maybe hailing, here you are no car so you have to WALK them all to different schools cause they are all different ages. Not Going to Happen!! Someone said it's all about Health, & Well Being. I can tell you there will be NO HEALTH or WELL BEING being stuck in some city where you can walk from one end to the other in 15 min. I can tell you this, it's not going to happen!
Do you always have to go through the restaurant or the store on the first floor to get to your apartment? Are all residences rentals?
Rich people aren’t living there….
zoning??? deregulation of zoning? An adult store or a jail in that 15-minute city with the only residences above businesses
new york has lots of homeless and expensive rent and high taxes etc... and how those are not talked about this design
This will be a great solution to keeping the poor and disabled in their place so that the rich aren't threatened or bothered. It also will allow the rich to ignore the problems in low-income zones around them. Combine that with limits on transit based on income and employment and maintaining high rents in the affluent areas that the poor will never be able to afford and finally ensure that house prices are at the highest possible values to prevent homeownership by anyone other than that highest income people and this will be perfect. We can also control what grocery stores the poor will be allowed to use and ensure that they are mostly limited to government-controlled foodbanks that are in their areas and they and their children will be kept there with no chance to move above their caste of the poor and unclean. To get to work they can have special employment passports to transit across cities or even require a cell phone so they can be tracked and located for removal if they stray from the authorized route to get to and from work. Not activating the location tracking feature would be a criminal offence.
This was a fine state of affairs [15-minute neighborhood] until I started working as a freelance designer and fabricator, where not having my own car to move my tools and such around became a huge hindrance. It seems like city layouts like this are designed to keep anyone from being self sufficient or really able to build anything.
Sure its great to have amenities around you but our cities are already made. In these 15 min cities are they going to kick some businesses out because there is two of the same type? Will you volunteer your business to the chopping block? So is this going to snuff out competition or make you move your business to an area where no one can afford your stuff or need it? Eliminating cars will ultimately result in control of your behavior, your actions. So grandma can only be seen maybe twice a year because she actually lives 45 min away and you used up part of your driving allowance because you are punished for not stopping at an amber light. Im sure ive painted a nice picture here compared to what the govts want.
You're young and fit, walking no problem. Not so much when you're old, or the weather is foul, or you have young children.
Pets? Dog park? For that matter, a zoo?
Now compare what you're paying for your groceries in those "little stores" compared to a supermarket. I guarantee everything will cost much more, because of economies of scale. And how much more freight traffic do you generate by having to supply a hundred little stories scattered everywhere over one large central store?
How Many Churches and what religions will be accommodated? Places of Worship?
They are rolling this out in the UK. people are already complaining. People that need to take care of their parents and grandparents are being told they can't leave THEIR SECTOR MORE THAN ONCE A WEEK. THEY LITERALLY HAVE CHECK POINTS. PEOPLE ARE NOT ALLOWED TO LEAVE THEIR SECTOR TO VISIT ANOTHER SECTOR WITHOUT THE CITY COUNSELS APPROVAL. ITS AN ORWELLIAN NIGHTMARE. HAS ZERO TO DO WITH SAVING THE PLANET BECAUSE THE ELITES STILL PUT OUT THE MAJORITY OF THE POLLUTION WITH THEIR EXTRAVAGANT LIFESTYLE. ITS ONLY A WAY OF TURNING COMMON PEOPLE INTO SLAVES SO THAT THE RICH AND POWERFUL CAN LIVE A LIFESTYLE THAT IS BEYOND OUR COMPREHENSION. DONT LET THEM SELL YOU THIS BUNDLE OF BLACK MIRROR GARBAGE. BECAUSE THATS WHAT IT IS
You will go nowhere and you will be happy?
So perhaps you haven't considered your children. Is there an ob-gyn in the area? What about a hospital and pediatrician. Are there great elementary school, middle school and high-school? How can a mom tow three kids a newborn. 2 yr old and 4 yr old around without a car? How about, I'm a scientist... is there a laboratory where I can work in this area. Sounds like a child's dream but adults need to think about more think than getting coffee and walking at the park. Like can I have a decent job in this neighborhood, is it safe for my kids, and what are schools like.... I really don't have time for leisure activities like coffee or florist nor have money for that either.
If you see what is happening in Oxfordshire England, you will see its a lock down. Only allowed to leave your zone 100 days a year, after that it’s a 70 pound fine per offense. If you work outside your zone, tough. You have to take care of a sick relative in a different zone, tough. We will fight these 15 minute cities (climate lockdown prisons) to the grave, its a dystopian nightmare.
sorry but this is communism in disguise, because yeah, there is a hardware store in my block, but, there is no hammer, only screw driver, and by the fact that there is no competition, it can not be another hardware store in the area so i’m stuck to that screwdriver.
What happens if you want to travel an hour away to visit someone? Do you still get to have a car? What about where all those cars would be parked? Back to EXPENSIVE?
Wild. The fact that anyone thinks this should be normalized to coerce people to not have cars is authoritarian. Oxfordshire, UK you’ll have 100 days you can leave your zone. Permission to go from zone to zone requires you register your car. You’ll then be surveilled and if you break limits or regulation you’ll be fined. People will be living in Utopian Concrete prisons. What happens when they simply limit your digital identity to not make purchases beyond the zones or restrict spending. You people need to wake up.
Can start your own biz?
Sounds like a great way to keep you comfortable and exactly where they want you to stay in your life. And once you’re there…
VoteTexas.gov, https://www.votetexas.gov/get-involved/index.html
From Wikipedia: (See the link for the full article and references.)
Moreno and the 15-minute city
Urbanist Carlos Moreno's 2021 article introduced the 15-minute city concept as a way to ensure that urban residents can fulfill six essential functions within a 15-minute walk or bike ride from their dwellings: living, working, commerce, healthcare, education and entertainment.[14] The framework of this model has four components; density, proximity, diversity and digitalization.[14]
Moreno cites the work of Nikos Salingaros, who theorizes that an optimal density for urban development exists which would encourage local solutions to local problems.[14][24] The authors discuss proximity in terms of both space and time, arguing that a 15-minute city would reduce the space and time necessary for activity.[14] Diversity in this 15-minute city model refers to mixed-use development and multicultural neighborhoods, both of which Moreno and others argue would improve the urban experience and boost community participation in the planning process. Digitalization is a key aspect of the 15-minute city derived from smart cities. Moreno and others argue that a Fourth Industrial Revolution has reduced the need for commuting because of access to technology like virtual communication and online shopping. They conclude by stating that these four components, when implemented at scale, would form an accessible city with a high quality of life.[14]
Moreno cites the work of Nikos Salingaros, who theorizes that an optimal density for urban development exists which would encourage local solutions to local problems.[14][24] The authors discuss proximity in terms of both space and time, arguing that a 15-minute city would reduce the space and time necessary for activity.[14] Diversity in this 15-minute city model refers to mixed-use development and multicultural neighborhoods, both of which Moreno and others argue would improve the urban experience and boost community participation in the planning process. Digitalization is a key aspect of the 15-minute city derived from smart cities. Moreno and others argue that a Fourth Industrial Revolution has reduced the need for commuting because of access to technology like virtual communication and online shopping. They conclude by stating that these four components, when implemented at scale, would form an accessible city with a high quality of life.[14]
Limitations
While the theory has many potential benefits, including reducing car dependence and promoting walkability in urban areas, it also has limitations.
One limitation is the difficulty or impracticality of implementing the 15-minute city concept in established urban areas, where land use patterns and infrastructure are already in place. Additionally, the concept may not be feasible in areas with low population density or in low-income communities where transportation options are limited.[8]
Another limitation is that the model is not universal – it is easier to implement in cities with less urban sprawl, like those in Europe, than in cities with extensive sprawl, like those in Asia and North America.[8] Noted exceptions include Chengdu, which utilized the 15-minute city concept to curb sprawl, and Melbourne, where Sally Capp, the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, stressed the importance of public transit in expanding the radius of the 15-minute city.[45]
Furthermore, when the concept is applied as a literal spatial analysis research tool, it then refers to the use of an isochrone to express the radius of an area considered local.[12] Isochrones have a long history of utilization in transportation planning and are constructed primarily using two variables: time and speed. However, the reliance on population-wide conventions, such as gait speed, to estimate the buffer zones of accessible areas may not accurately reflect the mobility capabilities of specific population groups, like the elderly. This may result in potential inaccuracies and fallacies in research models.[12]
Until next time…
Thanks again for reading! I’m glad you’re here!
You can always see everything on the website, https://ellenleyrer.substack.com.
Please share your thoughts in the comments. Or email me, and let’s have a problem-solving conversation. I welcome ‘letters to the editor’ type emails and may publish yours. I hope we can create a caucus with positive, back-to-the-founders’-dream-for-America results. Have a topic you want to know more about?
Some housekeeping…
Going forward, you may need to check your spam folder. And please mark this address as ‘not spam.’ If the newsletter isn’t in your spam folder either, you should look in the Promotions tab.