A 15-minute city is an urban planning model where everything a resident needs in their daily life can be accessed within a 15-minute walk or bike ride.
The intention is to reduce the use of cars and promote walking, bicycles, and public transit. The original idea can be traced back to 1902.
The 15-minute city model was revived most recently in 2016 by French business professor Carlos Moreno and it gained a significant following after the Covid epidemic as it would reduce travel within a city.
Moreno listed the six essential functions that residents should be able to access within a 15-minute journey from home. These include: living, working, healthcare, commerce, education and entertainment (it seems self-evident that the model should also include recreation and green spaces).
The 15-minute city model is important to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions (GHGs) of cities.
Commuting time in Canada averages 26 minutes one way in 2024 (Statistics Canada), and almost a tenth of commuters have a one-way commute of over an hour.
Eighty per cent of commutes are by personal vehicles, with the accompanying GHG鈥檚.
The model is being developed alongside green infrastructure which uses natural systems to improve air and water quality, and biodiversity: innovations like permeable pavement, rain gardens, and green roofs.
The concept is currently being put into practice in many cities. In Paris, there are already 50 15-minute 鈥榗ities鈥�.
Even before planning with this model, 94 per cent of Parisians lived within five minutes of a bakery so that they could get their daily baguette.
Melbourne, Australia鈥檚 fastest-growing city, is incorporating this planning framework; crucial due to its spread-out nature.
Ottawa has adopted the concept, referring to these areas of the city as 鈥�15-minute neighbourhoods.鈥�
Other cites which are very involved in using the concept include Barcelona (Spain), Shanghai (China), Bogota (Colombia), Portland (Oregon), and Milan (Italy), to name a few.
The benefits of 15-minute cities do not end with reducing GHGs.
Reducing private vehicle use will also reduce traffic congestion, improve air quality (even with electric vehicles, tire dust is a significant source of air pollution), boost local economies and create more opportunities for social interactions.
There will be obstacles, of course, the biggest being that of renovating existing cities.
Another unforeseen problem is that the concept has been the target of a conspiracy theory: that governments鈥� main aim with this concept is to imprison citizens within small areas of a city to better control them.
This has become so entrenched that Moreno has received death threats and some cities including Oxford, England, have stopped using the term.
However, as the world grapples with reducing GHGs to fight climate change, and making cities more livable, this model will undoubtedly become more widely used by city planners, to the benefit of all city residents.
Eli Pivnick is a former entomologist and member of Climate Action Now! North Okanagan.
