Concept: Main features: The 15-Minute City is a model for urban develop- The ment and urban mobility developed by Professor 1. The city should follow the rhythm Carlos Moreno at the Sorbonne in and of people, not cars. promoted by Paris mayor . The 15-Minute 15-Minute City is a city in which all residents can 2. Every square meter should serve reach daily necessities within a short walk or bike multiple uses. ride from their homes. In their article from 2021, Moreno et al. introduce the concept of the 15-Mi- 3. Urban quarters should be designed City nute City, which aims to ensure that city residents in a way, that people do not need can perform six essential functions (living, work, to commute. commerce, health, education, and entertainment) within a 15-minute walk or bike ride from their homes. The 15-Minute City framework of this model has four components: density, proximity, Conditions: diversity, and digitization. The concept does not serve as a fixed blueprint but presents a framework of ideas and principles The 15-Minute City is partly derived from histori- and must be applied to the hyperlocal and socio- cal concepts of neighborhood design, mixed-use, political context of different urban forms. population density, and pedestrian friendliness as laid out by in ‚The Death and Life All urban residents - living in the center or sub- of Great American Cities‘. The worldwide CO- urbs - must have access to essential services in VID-19 pandemic revealed weaknesses in urban close proximity. To achieve this, it requires: planning that had previously been overlooked. This finding accelerated the consideration and • a massive spatial decentralization; implementation of the 15-Minute City concept in • a transformation of existing response to the climate crisis and urban impacts infrastructure; of the COVID-19 pandemic. The restricted radius • the development of new services of movement led to an increased relevance of for each neighborhood; quality in one‘s own neighborhood. In this respect, • the transformation of streets into the 15-Minute approach is an attempt to bring the bike lanes and pedestrian areas; built environment more in line with the people • new economic models that attract living there. local businesses.

The 15-Minute City also provides a framework Goal: to accelerate the path to carbon-free cities. It The goal of the 15-Minute City is a more envi- focuses on integrating land use and transport ronmentally friendly and socially inclusive urban planning and is most successful when implemen- (sub)development, which should make urban life ted as part of a citywide, city-led strategy that more qualitative, agile, healthy and flexible. strongly involves local people. Urban Criticism: Development opportunities & risks: Services In contrast to the concept’s endorsements and The concept is occasionally criticized as an urban opportunities, it is also subject to significant cri- paradigm best suited for European cities (esp. ticism. Spatial distances between living, working, Oslo, London, Barcelona) and not for the Global (local) supplies, services, leisure, and educational South or North American contexts. Despite Density facilities should be kept short so that the need its focus on people-centered urban develop- for transport is reduced and traffic is avoided. ment, the concept is based primarily on spatial The strong focus on spatial proximity is mainly and environmental observations and neglects criticized because it promotes which socio-economic aspects, such as demographics, leads to increasing segregation and isolation of social composition, employment, and income. neighborhoods. At the digital LSE event „Urban Since social inequalities, post-colonial legacies 15-Minute Age Debate: Localising Transport“, Prof. Edward and informality are highly visible in the urban Proximity City Diversity Glaeser from Harvard University, among others, structures of the partner countries of German spoke out clearly against the 15-Minute City. development cooperation and sprawling, less compact settlement structures are hardly taken The concept, he says, focuses on upper-midd- into account, the 15-Minute City cannot directly le-income people, who often already live in serve as a concept that can be linked to, but rat- neighborhoods with supply opportunities above her intensify segregation and gentrification. Digital- the average. He argues that it cannot solve the isation much larger and more complex issue of how Proponents of the concept urge those invest- cities can become places of opportunities for ments under the 15-Minute City paradigm should everyone again. Gleaser calls for burying the idea be targeted to lower-income neighborhoods. of dividing cities into 15-minute parcels, saying This includes measures such as implementing in- Urban Data that especially after the COVID-19 pandemic, clusive spatial planning/zoning, affordable housing, greater social connectedness across neig- and supporting collaborative and community-ba- hborhoods should be the goal. Journalist Alice sed approaches to housing development (e.g., Source: Morento et al., 2020 Delaleu accuses Mayor Hidalgo of excluding the cooperative housing). Urban planning interventions poorer population of the outlying neighborhoods must be understood and implemented hand-in- from the center: „By creating the city of quarters, hand with socially inclusive development processes. the city is building new walls and sinking into selfishness.“which should make urban life more Nevertheless, it is worthwhile to further inves- qualitative, agile, healthy and flexible. tigate on the applicability of the concept for the partner countries. Besides Bogotá, there are several cities working to reduce the average inner-city commute time from 80 to 30 minutes, creating a 30-minute city. References: Published by TUMI Management 1. Coronavirus recovery plan: What is ‚15-minute city‘ concept? Deutsche Gesellschaft für http://timesofi ndia.indiatimes.com/articles- international Zusammenarbeit how/76991001.cms?utm_source=conten- (GIZ) GmbH tofi nterest&utm_medium=text&utm_cam- Bonn und Eschborn paign=cppsthttps://timesofi ndia.indiatimes.com/ india/coronavirus-recovery-plan-what-is-15-minute- E [email protected] city-concept/articleshow/76991001.cms I www.giz.de

2. Paris mayor unveils ‚15-minute city‘ plan in Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 36 + 40 re-election campaign 53113 Bonn https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/07/ T +49 228 44 60-0 paris-mayor-unveils-15-minute-city-plan-in-re-elec- F +49 228 4460-17 66 tion-campaign Dag-Hammarskjöld-Weg 1 - 5 3. Introducing the “15-Minute City”: Sustai- 65760 Eschborn nability, Resilience and Place Identity in Future T +49 6196 79-0 Post-Pandemic Cities F +49 6196 79-11 15 Source: Paris en Commun, 2020 https://www.mdpi.com/2624-6511/4/1/6/htm

4. LSE Localising Transport Debate Summary Status https://www.lse.ac.uk/Cities/urban-age/debates/key- June 2021 takeaways-3

5. Greenpeace Magazin, Die 15-Minuten-Stadt. https://www.greenpeace-magazin.de/aktuelles/die- 15-minuten-stadt

6. Carlos Moreno, The-15-minute city. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ2f4sJVXAI

www.transformative-mobility.org @TUMInitiative @transformativemobility Transformative Urban Mobility Initiative