The 15 minute City
All around the world, urban planners are looking to create “cities of proximities,” where you live close to everything you need – ideally within 15 minutes.
Illustration by Micael Fresque
The 15-minute city concept was introduced by Colombian-French scientist Carlos Moreno who says, “Cities should be designed or redesigned so that within the distance of a 15-minute walk or bike ride, people should be able to live the essence of what constitutes the urban experience: to access work, housing, food, health, education, culture and leisure.”
Moreno’s four guiding principles of the 15-minute city:
Ecology: for a green and sustainable city.
Proximity: to live with reduced distance to other activities.
Solidarity: to create links between people.
Participation: actively involve citizens in the transformation of their neighborhood.
Cities started small, but 20th Century planning isolated residential areas from offices and created sprawl, which is expensive and comes with a commute. The world’s biggest cities are all attempting to return to their origins with spaces for residents to walk, look and linger.
In addition to being efficient, this sustainable model reduces carbon emissions and offers more greenspace and community gathering spots. Closing streets and turning them into pedestrian-only alleys and widening sidewalks are two components of this concept. Milan and New York have started doing this, and Barcelona is converting parking lots into civic space.
While they are most popular in Europe, you can find variations of the 15-minute city all over the country. In our suburban areas, 20 minutes is a more realistic goal. In Charlotte, NC, the aim is for 10-minute neighborhoods. Is Charleston a 15 Minute City? Yes and no. The downtown peninsula is, but the bike safety measures are lacking. Daniel Island achieves the 15-minute convenience, but Mt Pleasant does not. You’ll start to see more of this planning style incorporated in Charleston as our population grows and our roads become increasingly more congested.
