The 15-minute city

Cherry

By Rhiannonw

Tue, 04 Apr 2023
  • 1603 reads
13 comments
 

I don’t understand this concept of 15 min-cities.
It seems to be proposing people should be able to find all they need:
healthcare, schools, shops,  leisure
within a 15 minute walk or bike ride from their homes.
Villages within cities?
I suppose it reflects more dependance on computing interaction
for working form home via internet messaging and conference
and shopping in smaller shops or via the web
and an end to large stores for browsing by those who can get there;
less need to visit city centres,
more use of public transport, less car usage.
It seems more of a concept for new building
than trying to compartmentalise existing communities,
or trying to find what community natural boundaries exist already??

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/property/article-11921133/Oxford-Bristol-She...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15-minute_city

[IP: 15 minutes]

 

 

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Comments

Submitted by Mark Burrow on

Convenience supposedly bringing people closer together, but technology making them more isolated and estranged from themselves and others. I suspect this idea is brought to you by the same kind of geniuses who came up with council estates. 

Enjoyed this. 

 

 

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thanks. Yes, I can see some maybe thoughtful reasoning, but it sounds full of problems and easily getting in a mess. Maybe there will be good debates, especially where it's been started. I suppose it's thought because of technology don't need to travel, get to know your neighbours, but it's still easy to chat across the internet or travel still to contacts …! Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thanks for the cherries. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by marandina on

I think Paris is meant to be designed in a way that everything is accessible within a few minutes, regardless of where you live. Interesting concept. Nicely done again [Should that say "villages within cities"?] Paul 

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

thank you, Paul. And thank you for the observant eye for the typo! So easy not to notice one's own!

When i was a teenager living in outer London, there were lots of small shopping roads scattered about, though the big shops were more central or out in Wembley etc. But then there wasn't internet shopping then.

Complicated ideas. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

I live where everything is within walking. It is brilliant, but there is not very much choice? I would not like it so much if there was no internet delivery. And if there is a problem with availability of a basic fresh grocery item (eggs at the moment) just have to do without.
I think the ideal of 15 minutes cities is brilliant, but cannot see how it might be enough for those used to being able to travel easily, because they would have to accept that everything is how it is, and that is SMALL, small supermarket, small library, small health centre, small school, small amount of job opportunities, like here.
Choice or convenience. Only one is possible
What we do have, here, is slower time.
Is a fascinating subject Rhiannon, to have raised so skillfully

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thank you, Di. I found it an interesting but difficult idea to get my head around it all so thank you for saying I had raised it well. It did seem a subject worth raising. I felt I got on more easily with the one on 15mins to nature project.

I agree about the slower time, and it is something we notice when we go down to my daughter's in Kent. They have the Downs near, and small and larger nature reserves, but there are big roads around, and the feeling of time stress. I heard someone today quote 'Fast is slow: Slow is fast'! Ludlow is supposed to the slow food capital of Britain I think! Rhiannon

 

Submitted by donignacio on

15 minutes driving barely gets me out of my neighborhood! Things are so sprawling where I live, but it was my choice. I enjoyed your poem!

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thanks, I think they want needs around within 15 min walk or bike ride ie a lot more small loclised shops etc. I haven't read up how it is working where it's being tried. It does make a difference that so much work and shopping is by internet I suppose. Do you have local facilities within your neighbourhood (sorry, that's UK spelling!) Rhiannon

 

Submitted by donignacio on

I can get to some pretty nice small boutiques in a kind of boutique area in a 15 min drive. The grocery store and pharmacy in 20 mins. The clinic about the same. So it's not bad! 

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

No, though obviously different from the idea of walking distance! Rhiannon

 

Submitted by forest_for_ever on

Fifteen minutes of any city is about as much as I can stand.  Enjoyed this piece.

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thanks! I wonder how the plans work out where they are tried. Rhiannon