"For many, living in a city means facing tedious traffic, packed subways and imposing buildings amid the sprawl. But the increasingly popular urban planning concept known as the “15-minute city” has revived the abiding idea that they should operate at human scale, envisioning a city where every resident can reach essential resources by foot, bicycle or public transport within a quarter of an hour.

City officials and urban planners have endorsed the 15-minute city as a way to tackle climate change, while the pandemic drove home the benefits of proximity to amenities and walkable streets, and prompted a “surge of interest” in the concept, according to Zaheer Allam, an urban strategist and fellow at Deakin University in Australia. But some have also made it the subject of baseless claims about governments’ attempts to control mobility.

Tom Logan, a lecturer in civil and natural resources engineering at the University of Canterbury, said the 15-minute city is about flexibility, not restrictions. “The whole point is to give people the option to be able to walk and bike to things that they need and that just frees them up to do lots of other things,” he told The Post."

Kelsey Ables reports for the Washington Post March 3, 2023. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"Fact Focus: Conspiracies Misconstrue ‘15-Minute City’ Idea" (AP) [3]