© Martin Pope / SOPA Images / LightRocket via Getty ImagesProtesters against 15-minute cities and the Covid-19 vaccination in Leeds, 11 February 2023.
In an effort to make towns more user- and eco-friendly, urban planners have unveiled the '15-minute city,' which hopes to keep residents close to home
to battle climate change. But will this plan open the door to greater restrictions?
More than 2,000 protesters went out into the streets of Oxford, England earlier this month to express their hostility to the controversial concept of the 15-minute city, which
has already been quietly unveiled in a number of major cities, including Barcelona, Melbourne, Paris and Milan.
Centered on the work of the French-Colombian urbanist Carlos Moreno,
15-minute cities are designed so that human necessities and services, like shopping, work, education, and healthcare are accessible with a short bike ride or walk from one's front door. Such a city is divided into neighborhoods or zones, and
local residents have little to no need to ever travel outside their immediate surroundings. When necessary, such trips can be taken via public transport or ring roads, keeping private cars' harmful emissions into the city air at a minimum.
At first glance, it seems hard to argue with this proposal. After all, most people at one time or another have found themselves cursing at automobiles, maybe even chasing after them with a clenched fist (as an Australian friend of mine was prone to do when the cars didn't stop for him in the crosswalks), wishing that the contraptions would just disappear.
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