INSIGHT: 15-MINUTE CITIES

he Covid-19 lockdown forced millions of people to spend ABOUT THE AUTHOR much more time in their imme- Mark Sutcliffe has a background in T diate neighbourhoods and many automotive journalism, specialising in of them began to see their communities in the corporate fleet and company car a new – and often more favourable – light. sector. More recently, he has taken a Liberated from the daily grind of their special interest in electric vehicles and journeys to work, commuters have enjoyed sustainable mobility. He launched the #walk1000miles initiative in 2014, authored a white paper the additional opportunities for recreation, on company car fleet uptake of electric vehicles in 2016 and exercise, interaction and collaboration writes for a number of transport and business publications. Famous for provided by working from home. Is it possible this new-found sense of community could precipitate a revolu- growth in traffic and resultant declines in tion in urban planning which prioritises urban air quality have forced a re-evaluation. a decentralised, devolved approach? A major turning point came with the Such a solution would need to focus on election of as Mayor of 15 minutes? transforming cities and their suburbs in 2014. Uncompromising anti-car poli- into networks of urban villages where cies were a significant plank in Hidalgo’s everything important is just a 15-minute election platform and the concept of the Speculation about the death of commuting may turn walk or bike ride away. 15-minute neighbourhood was another out to be premature, but the legacy of lockdown could The 15-Minute Neighbourhood concept eye-catching policy which contributed to has been around for a while. Transport is her emphatic re-election this year. promote a place-making revolution in urban planning. at its heart given the fundamental princi- Since Hidalgo’s election, local govern- ples rely on active travel and good public ment officials across Europe have shown Mark Sutcliffe investigates the 15-minute city model transport to give residents access to all greater enthusiasm for taking back control essential amenities without making long of city streets from cars and trucks and journeys by car. giving the space back to residents. Instead of sucking workers, shoppers and C40 Cities’ urban planning programme students into congested city centres, the manager Flavio Coppola says: “Most 15-minute approach devolves the provision European cities are closer to the ideal – of day-to-day needs to a neighbourhood, primarily because their cores were built so nobody needs to travel more than 15 2014 before the arrival of the car – but there is still minutes to earn a living, buy food, see a a lot to do in the suburbs of European cities doctor and educate their children. the year Anne that are mostly car-oriented. The aim is to create a dense intercon- Hidalgo became “There is the potential to set more nected mesh of self-sufficient urban vil- mayor of Paris ambitious goals such as building schools lages or ‘’, reducing and anti-car at the local level to reduce school run traffic car use and, with it, the need for space to policies or ensuring everyone has access to green accommodate and park private cars, leav- followed spaces such as parks and creating smaller ing more space for humans. local health centres to handle day-to-day medical issues.” FROM THE SUBURBS According to Greg McClymont, assis- TO THE CITY CENTRE tant director of the National The concept of the 15-min- Infrastructure Commission, ute neighbourhood origi- to an extent, parts of nated in the US and London already oper- Australia, where ate on this basis. sprawling sub- “London already urbs with scarce feels like a col- lection of vil- created con- If you go to Bank in London or Grand lages, but it’s gestion more of a problems as Central in New York at the weekend, challenge in hundreds of they are deserted – which doesn’t make the outskirts thousands of of big cities, commuters sense. We need to make good use of all where trans- drove into the city parts of the city every day of the week port in some of centre every day. the suburbs is In Europe, some – we need ‘life everywhere’ geared to getting planners believe Hélène Chartier, people into the city we are closer to the C40 Cities centre,” he says. 15-minute neighbourhood The obvious excep- than Australia and the USA, tion to the establishment of but many European cities remain 15-minute neighbourhoods in ISTOCK.COM/SAMUELFOSTER overly reliant on cars and the continuing larger UK cities such as London,

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segmented and we can’t adopt a ‘life every- permanent interventions we were already devolving work for office-based workers improved access to central housing that where’ model. So, I think the model for the planning. We’ve secured the initial funding who rely on computers to do their jobs. transforms the demand for transport – suburbs is to encourage the development to implement the pop-up measures – and “But, there are many essential workers especially during the peak rush hour – and of retail and amenities around a series of how that is delivered and performs will who can’t work from home on a laptop and makes cities more liveable for everyone.” ‘polycentric’ high streets which become a unlock the longer term funding required to we need to make sure these workers have focus for life in each suburb.” make these measures permanent. access to a stock of good quality housing COULD PLACE-MAKING DRIVE McClymont adds: “The majority of our “The mechanisms are in place to encour- near to where they work which they can THE COVID RECOVERY? residential and commercial property age delivery of this active travel infrastruc- actually afford to live in. The Centre for Local Economic Strategies has already been built and it’s hard to ture rather than just talking about it.” “Currently, millions of these key work- (CLES) has conducted research show- change people’s behaviour simply through Rachel Lee, of place-making thinktank ers, who aren’t always very well paid, are ing that encouraging consumers to spend improving their transport choices. Living Streets says: “In the UK, we tend to maybe living 90 minutes away from where at local independent retailers creates a “But, when it comes to deciding what we talk about low traffic neighbourhoods and they work, which places a huge burden on more circular economy in which a higher build in the future, there is more scope to London is the only place they’ve really been them in terms of costs and the time spent proportion of spend remains in circulation shape behaviour. Demand for urban living tried. There are some ‘home zones’ and travelling. within the local economy. continues to grow, but the rate of develop- similar ideas elsewhere, but they never “And it’s this combination of flexible As part of its Covid recovery strategy, the ment isn’t keeping pace with demand. really took off, because we have never really tele­working for knowledge workers and Manchester-based thinktank has “Decision-making about planning and committed to the vision of what a low traffic infrastructure needs to be devolved down neighbourhood could be. to city and region level and it’s essential “In the Netherlands, a home zone comes local bodies have access to the funding that with speed limits and a whole host of meas- makes all of this possible. Local planners ures that prioritise walking and cycling over and mayors have a better grasp of what car use. If you’re going to do it properly, you their residents need and are better placed need to invest in traffic calming and safe to make the right planning decisions than walking and rather people sitting in offices in Whitehall.” than simply advising people that they might want to consider walking and cycling more. Birmingham and Greater Manchester The desire development at C40 Cities, felt that for ACTIVE AND PUBLIC TRANSPORT AT “But, it’s not a question of banning cars. centres on where people work. to separate 15-minute neighbourhoods to thrive, it’s HEART OF THE 15-MINUTE MODEL You put in modal filters which make it “Work is the exception to the rule,” says places of work time to abandon those policies. Provision of safe walking and cycling infra- possible to access the neighbourhood by McClymont – this is the only reason I have from where Chartier says: “In the ’80s and ’90s, we structure and access to frequent, reliable, car, but make it very difficult to transit by car. for travelling into central London and that we live gave became obsessed with zoned develop- affordable public transport is what makes It’s about making it less convenient to use a certainly takes more than 15 minutes from rise to giant ment and separating the places where we the 15-minute model work. Without these car in those neighbourhoods and certainly We produced a short journey strategy where I live in South London. developments worked from places where we lived. This fundamentals in place, some residents slower than walking or using a bike for a “In the future, the expectation to be in such as gave rise to huge office developments like will continue to use their cars, reducing short journey.” three years ago and went on to create the office five days a week may give way Canary Wharf La Défense in Paris and Canary Wharf in the environmental, economic and safety a 10-year strategy for walking and to a more flexible approach with a larger in London’s London. dividends that flow from the model. THE LOCKDOWN LEGACY element of working from home.” former docks “15-minute neighbourhoods are about In Liverpool, the combined author- Until this spring, millions of people in and cycling. So, when Covid arrived, we the deconstruction of this way of thinking. ity already had detailed plans to intro- around our large cities still spent hundreds looked at planned interventions DUMP THE ‘ZONING’ PHILOSOPHY Today’s city neighbourhoods need to be duce more active travel and integration of hours a year commuting. But Covid has Top-down, centralised strategic planning more diverse and multifunctional. If you between transport modes as part of a wider ruthlessly exposed the fragility of this daily and accelerated them has delivered ‘zoned development’ in cities go to Bank in London or Grand Central in decarbonisation strategy. migration into the city centre while also Shane Fitzpatrick, Liverpool City Region around the world, where residential, leisure New York at the weekend, they are deserted The Covid crisis enabled city authorities to revealing some potential solutions. and economic activity have increasingly – which doesn’t make sense. We need to introduce ‘pop-up’ active travel infrastruc- Many large corporates and multinationals become siloed in designated areas of the make good use of all parts of the city every ture, which is now being converted to more were quietly beginning to question whether city that are often miles apart. day of the week – we need ‘life everywhere’.” permanent solutions. they needed quite so much office space in Hélène Chartier, head of zero carbon “But, out in the suburbs, Paris is very Liverpool City Region’s interim director of costly city centre locations and – according integrated transport Shane Fitzpatrick says to some analysts – the pandemic has accel- the focus was on creating self-sufficient erated these reviews. What is a 15-Minute Neighbourhood? communities with easy walking and cycling Coppola says: “Decentralisation of jobs access to the full spectrum of essential is essential to fully realising the 15-minute The 15-minute neighbourhood involves a menu of safer, quieter, more diverse, inclusive and services, shops, recreation and workplaces model, because jobs are one of the funda- policy actions that provide residents access to most, economically vibrant. where feasible. mental drivers of where people want to live. if not all, of their needs within a short walk or bike ride It requires a move towards a more decentralised “The school run is a major focus for us If the location of jobs becomes more spread from their home. and devolved planning framework that understands because many of those journeys are less out, people will have shorter commutes.” Based upon four pillars, proximity, diversity, in granular detail the unique characteristics of each than 2km (just more than a mile), which Many advocates of the 15-minute neigh- density and ubiquity, 15-minute policies transform neighbourhood and encourages development that is walkable or cyclable, so we have been bourhood believe employers will begin urban spaces into connected and self-sufficient (or will demonstrably improve the quality of life of the focusing on creating clearways near to embrace a more decentralised model ‘complete’) neighbourhoods. Reducing car use and residents in those neighbourhoods. schools to almost blanket out car provision. in which employees work within a hybrid encouraging active travel are central to delivering the In the UK, there are relatively few examples of “We produced a short journey strategy framework of online collaboration with 15-minute vision. planning policies and interventions that nurture three years ago and went on to create a access to smaller local offices and less fre- The 15-minute neighbourhood serves as an 15-minute neighbourhoods, but the low traffic 10-year strategy for walking and cycling. So, quent commutes to large city centre HQs. organising principle for urban development and neighbourhoods being pioneered in Waltham Forest when Covid arrived, we looked at planned Chartier adds: “Work is the last pillar of urban life that makes life more liveable for residents, and Sheffield – and those planned for Bristol, Bath, interventions and accelerated them. the zoned development approach we need by improving air quality and making neighbourhoods Manchester and other cities – are tentative first steps. “The pop-up walking and cycling meas- to deconstruct to fully embrace the 15-min- ISTOCK.COM/VYASPHOTO ures we have introduced are a prelude to the ute model. And teleworking is the key to

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launched a new community wealth- A BASIS TO BUILD BACK BETTER? frameworks have got to start reflect- danger of producing higher density copies strategic location for long-distance com- Infrastructure Levy or section 106 pay- building handbook, Own the Future, which According to C40 Cities’ Coppola, the ing the risks we now face in the very of the sprawling suburbs the 15-minute muting. It is doubtful, given this emphasis, ments, meaning you only get the bare aims to retain as much wealth as possible in reason the 15-minute neighbourhood complex environment we have created. neighbourhood was designed to tackle. that local shops and services will flourish.” minimum of infrastructure within each the economy – making it stick. is getting a lot of traction right now is the “Working quickly to make temporary Centred on rail connections and new Steve Chambers, sustainable transport development. That leaves only a very small At its core is a focus on forms of busi- mobility restrictions imposed by lockdown. active travel infrastructure permanent interchanges, many of these supposedly campaigner at Transport for New Homes, pot of cash to pay for extras like active ness which are locally-owned and create a “We’ve seen the space within which we is going to be a priority and we need to desirable residential areas are in danger adds: “Our visits to sites of garden towns travel infrastructure, so the place-making multiplier effect of benefits for local people, move shrink quite a lot,” says Coppola. inject some agility into the way we work of being built without any of the social, civic and garden villages highlighted the chasm 7 aspects get lost along the way. employees and communities. “We have become more dependent on our in the public sector to deliver on this. and transport infrastructure that reduces between the visions and the built reality. “The whole point of planning is to make Local ‘community wealth hubs’ of social, immediate proximity and some of us have “In Sheffield, we hope to accelerate our reliance on the car. “We found that because of remote loca- sure places function at every level and retail and recreational activity implied by realised that the doctors, pharmacies, food Low Traffic Neighbourhoods initiative, According to a study by Transport for New tions, public transport was rarely already miles transport is key to that. the 15-minute model could not only revi- shops and places to exercise aren’t always which, we believe, will work well along- Homes (TfNH), the 50 garden develop- provided and funding had not been secured is the distance “We should be prioritising within place- talise struggling local high streets, but also available. side schemes to create more active ments currently under construction across to make it available when residents move in. some new town making, active travel first and public trans- recharge local economies, creating more “That’s why the 15-minute neighbour- travel corridors in our cities. Together, the UK have tiny gardens and more space “Walking and cycling were clearly after- residents may port second and private vehicles last. But, jobs which don’t require a long commute. hood has suddenly provided such a power- these policies create huge opportunities allocated to the cars and roads which their thoughts and even in the better examples under the current planning framework, “Now is clearly the moment to ful vision for recovery from the Covid pan- for place-making and starting a really residents are dependent on to get to work did not provide safe and convenient routes have to travel that’s very difficult to do.” seriously mobilise a decade of community demic – not just by building more liveable positive planning conversation with and amenities. to basic amenities beyond the development to buy a pint C40 Cities’ Coppola sums up the current wealth-building work by local government, cities – but by creating the resilient, diverse, residents and policymakers.” The report says because of their compar- boundary. of milk state of play well: “Planning is all about citizens, businesses and a host of anchor less polluted communities which we may atively small size, garden villages will strug- “Car dependency is being built into gar- encouraging private enterprise within a institutions,” says Frances Jones, associate need to rely on more in the future. GARDEN VILLAGES OR A NEW gle to find enough passengers for commer- den towns and garden villages by design.” public framework and the irony is that we director at CLES. “This model can help cities deal with and GENERATION OF DORMITORY cial public transport services to be viable. Rachel Lee, of Living Streets, endorsed now seem to want to recreate a lot of the “The concept of 15-minute neighbour- bounce back from crises like the pandemic, TOWNS? Instead, residents of new towns like St the TfNH report and says it highlighted spontaneity that was happening before hoods aligns closely with this approach but also from other shocks which may 90 Although the ideal of 15-minute neigh- Cuthbert’s near Carlisle, Tresham near more fundamental issues in the wider plan- there was any form of planning regulation. and provides a useful framework for local become more widespread – such as the bourhoods may be within reach in Corby and Churchill Garden Village in ning system. “The main thrust of planning “The power of this vision is that it doesn’t authorities at all levels – from metro regions impacts of accelerating climate change in many UK cities, outside the city limits Somerset may be forced to travel as far as policy now seems to focus on getting as pitch one group against another: it really is to town councils – grappling with building the form of heatwaves or flooding.” a novel form of is under- seven miles to buy a pint of milk. many houses as possible built as quickly as aiming for something very basic that every- back healthier, more resilient and self- Metro mayors like Dan Jarvis, Steve mining the concept. Jenny Raggett, project coordinator at possible and the problem with that is that one cares about – which is making the area sufficient local economies. Rotheram and Andy Burnham have made Prime Minister Boris Johnson has Transport for New Homes, says: “It looks you don’t then plan places appropriately,” in which you live as pleasant as it can be and “These proposals constitute a profound it clear that returning to normal is not good % promised to “build, build, build” our like garden communities are to become she says. avoiding the need to lose a lot of time getting of residents reimagining of 10 years of mainstream enough; we need to build back better. way out of the Covid recession, but car-based commuter estates just like “This leads to the approval of large, car- from where you live to wherever you need to economic development practice and run Jenny Holmes, assistant director of to be able to planning experts have raised concerns any other – exactly what the Government dependent developments outside of towns be for whatever reason.” counter to the thrust of much UK national strategic transport at Sheffield City Region easily walk or that we may be sleep-walking into wanted to avoid. usually utilising banked land which a large policy. says Covid had accelerated patterns that cycle to all recreating US-style suburbs in the “Although the theme of the ‘local’ and house-builder has been sitting on for years. TURN OVER “But, if we are to build an economy were already emerging. basic needs middle of the countryside. ‘self-sufficient’ is the official line, the “Local authorities are then expected to FOR THE PEER that works for communities, that works “Covid has highlighted weaknesses in all by 2030 is the Britain’s much-vaunted garden language adopted in the promotion of get the developers to provide the associated REVIEWS to address climate change and creates sorts of areas and focusing on more robust villages and towns programme is in garden villages makes great play of their services by allocating funds via Community resilience where there is risk and precarity, and resilient communities will be a big part Portland goal then this is the approach we must take.” of our strategic response. Our planning

15-minute cities around the world

PARIS for a low traffic neighbourhood, in three city suburbs. Following Mayor Anne Hidalgo has already pedestrianised school streets and successful completion of the invested in making the city more lower speed limits. trials, the 20-minute model is walkable and safer to cycle in. now embedded in ’s Buoyed by her re-election, the OTTAWA planning strategy. next phase of Hidalgo’s ‘Paris City authorities want to transform en Commun’ reforms could Ottawa into the most liveable UTRECHT We should be prioritising within place- include the introduction of more mid-sized city in North America The new Merwede district neighbourhood co-working by creating a community of involves the construction of making, active travel first and public spaces, a further increase in 15-minute neighbourhoods 6,000 new homes linked to new transport second and private vehicles active travel infrastructure at which will incorporate integrated schools, health centres, shops the expense of road space for residential hubs with a wider and businesses by a network of last. But, under the current planning cars, more office space in the spread of amenities and retail, pedestrian and cycle routes. The framework, that’s very difficult to do suburbs and a greater use of improved public transport and an amenities will be constructed and Rachel Lee, multifunctional spaces. expanded role for active travel. open by the time the first residents Living Streets move in. MELBOURNE It’s early days, but mayor Giuseppe Launched in January two and PORTLAND Sala has committed the city to a half years ago, Melbourne’s The Oregon city aims to extend a green recovery from Covid-19 20-minute neighbourhood trials 20-minute neighbourhoods to by converting 35km (22 miles) of focused on active travel and allow 90% of its residents to easily streets to encourage safer cycling improved public transport to walk or cycle to meet all basic, and walking. There is also provision create healthier communities daily, non-work needs by 2030. ISTOCK.COM/JOHNNYGREIG

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