Urban planners point out that the way in which urban areas are built must be rethought to make them more sustainable, healthy and fair. The so-called 15-minute cities is one of these proposals.
Just two decades ago, more people lived in rural areas than in urban areas, but that has changed. today close to 56% of the total population of the planet lives in citiesin a trend that continues to grow, so the “15 minute cities” It is a proposal that seeks to favor how these types of areas are thought of.
According to the HIMtwo thirds of the approximately 10 billion people that will populate our planet in 2050 will have their home in the cities.
The consistent urban sprawl exposes, above all, the planning cracks, which shed light on issues such as the social injustice and exclusion, inadequate public transport networks, and the health consequences related to the smog that hangs in the urban air. But there is an idea that is also gaining momentum recently, on the path towards a healthier and more sustainable future: the calls “15 minute cities”.
This concept is inspired by the intention of planning cities in such a way that all the inputs and services necessary for daily life are available. a distance to cover in 15 minuteseither on foot or by bicycle.
Carlos Moreno, an urban planner and professor at the Sorbonne in Paris, was the first to propose the idea, in 2016. According to him, everyone should have expedited access to shops, schools, medical services, gyms, parks, restaurants and cultural institutions.
Many urban dwellers today would dream of having that level of access because instead they are faced with traffic jams or poor transport services to get to where they want to go.
Design with people in mind
Benjamin Büttner, an expert at the Technical University of Munich in the field of mobility, says that, in order to create more sustainable cities, parks, sports spaces, movie theaters or shops they have to move to where people liveand not vice versa.
This does not necessarily imply that urban spaces have to be demolished and built once more, clarifies the specialist. According to him, what is needed is repurpose existing spaces.
The “15-minute cities” should be accompanied by their own concept of mobility: fewer cars and more space for cyclists and pedestrians, as well as safe routes for girls and boys, the elderly and people with reduced capacities. Spaces for social interaction should not be missing either.
“Cars are a real problem, at least in the cities”says Buttner. “They take up a lot of space and also inhibit active mobility,” he adds.
From Paris to Shanghai, cities under reconstruction
Currently, there are regarding 16 cities around the world that have adopted this model or one similar to it, or are preparing to adopt it. Some contemplate distances minimum 20 minutesothers of 10. There are cities that prefer the development of specific districts while other concepts cover the entire city as a whole.
One of the pioneers is Paris. After Carlos Moreno presented his urban concept in 2016, the Parisian mayor, Anne Hidalgo, incorporated it into her electoral campaign program and started implementing it during the pandemic.
The Parisian concept sees schools as “capitals”, making them the center of each neighborhood. The schoolyards are transformed into parksin order to be able to use them in other activities following the school day and during the weekends.
Paris also wants to change the use of half of its 140,000 parking spaces, turning them into green areas, playgrounds, community centers or bicycle parking places. The streets of Paris are suitable for promoting mobility by bicycle, in a process that should end in 2026.
Also in 2016, Shanghai announced plans to launch the so-called “15 minute community perimeters”a plan that would guarantee access to all the activities of daily life in a period of no more than a quarter of an hour. Another 50 Chinese cities might adopt the same concept.
The “superblocks” of Barcelona
In Spain, the city of Barcelona experiments with calls super manzan. The concept incorporates several housing blocks into a “super block”: only their inhabitants or their providers have access by car, and the maximum speed is 10 kilometers per hour.
Many streets are blocked to the passage of cars. Old parking places have been converted into green areas, even for the vegetable planting or flower planting.
Büttner calls all this “tactical urbanism”: the concept is tested for one or two months and then it is evaluated whether the situation has improved or worsened. In Barcelona, superblocks might reduce up to 21% motorized traffic.
Many retailers express doubts regarding “15-minute cities” because they fear that sales will plummet if customers cannot get to their stores by car. But in Portland, United States, the 20% drop in vehicle traffic following the implementation of a 20-minute perimeter caused an increase of 1,200 million dollars in local commerce.
The specialist Büttner insists that, in order to move this type of city forward, a dialogue is necessary between officials, citizens and other social actors.
After all, “Each social, economic and ecological structure of a city is diverse. Deciding which measures are appropriate for each location depends on each context.”
