DOCSLIB.ORG

15-Minute Cities: Improving Quality of Life in a Quarter Hour

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
15-Minute Cities: Improving Quality of Life in a Quarter Hour 15-Minute Cities: Improving Quality of Life in a Quarter Hour June 09, 2021 Author: Julie Workman Even as the Covid-19 pandemic wanes and workplaces are reopening, many workers, who have been remote for over a year, are reluctant to return to the office for any number of reasons: lingering fear of exposure to Covid-19, the comfort of the informal work- from-home uniform, the flexible hours, the convenience of walking from one's bedroom to one's desk (in a real or makeshift home office), and the elimination of commutes, just to name a few. In short, remote work has been a boon to white-collar workers nationwide. Many of those workers, however, lament the lack of camaraderie, connection and convenience of the urban workplace - the water cooler chats, the mid-afternoon breaks at the coffee shop across the street, the lunch hour drugstore run, the powerful printers/copiers/scanners at the office, the formal and informal business lunches, happy hours and dinners. If only those perks were available in suburbia! For those who intend to continue to work © 2021 LEVENFELD PEARLSTEIN | www.lplegal.com remotely, whether permanently or partially, enter the concept of the 15-Minute City. The 15-Minute City was theorized by Carlos Moreno, a professor at the University of Paris 1 PanthéonSorbonne. It is a model of urban planning that seeks to improve quality of life by creating cities where everything a resident needs can be reached within a quarter of an hour by foot or bike. It requires minimal travel among housing, offices, restaurants, parks, hospitals and cultural venues. Unlike the concept of New Urbanism, which emphasizes ease of travel, walkability and the availability of public services, the 15-Minute City goes further by including conveniently located workplaces, cultural activities and, importantly, social connections. In other words, the 15-Minute City envisions amenity- dense neighborhoods where ordinary, daily human needs are available within a 5-minute walk (approximately a quarter-mile), and a full mix of uses, such as grocery stores, pharmacies, general merchandise, public schools, parks, employers and access to transit are available within a 15-minute walk (three-fourths of a mile). Access to major cultural, medical and higher education facilities, regional parks, major employers, access to intercity transit and access to special needs are available within a 15-minute bike ride (approximately three miles). © 2021 LEVENFELD PEARLSTEIN | www.lplegal.com Having these amenities in close proximity to one's home encourages interaction with neighbors, shopkeepers, business owners and friends and family. It fosters a sense of belonging to one's neighborhood, which benefits one's mental health. After enduring over 15 months of virtual solitude and inactivity, an untold number of our fellow citizens would benefit from being able to walk to the local coffee shop or bike to the public library, grab a coffee, check out a book and enjoy pleasant conversations with the barista and librarian along the way. And, the physical activity of walking or biking to these spots would have measurable health benefits. The rewards of a 15-Minute City are far-reaching for individuals and communities. I am fortunate to have lived for over 20 years in the Village of La Grange, Illinois where my children can walk to school with ease, where we can walk to various restaurants and a movie theater in less than 15 minutes, where any number of services are available within a 15-minute walk or bike ride, and where I can walk to the local Metra station in less than 10 minutes. Transit-oriented communities like La Grange that were built around local transportation hubs contain the nuts and bolts for the creation of 15-Minute Cities, and municipalities can encourage developers to bring additional amenities to communities © 2021 LEVENFELD PEARLSTEIN | www.lplegal.com using various development incentives. A 15- Minute City can evolve around an existing community center, like La Grange, or can be developed from the ground up in an infill or greenfield project. A neighborhood should fulfill six social functions: living, working, supplying, caring, learning and enjoying. Developers can choose to focus on these functions and, if not already existent in a community in which they are building, should try to incorporate amenities within their development to serve these functions. Sources and Additional Information: How '15-minute cities will change the way we socialise' - Peter Yeung, 1/4/21, BBC.com www.cnu.org https://www.15minutecity.com © 2021 LEVENFELD PEARLSTEIN | www.lplegal.com.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Download Winchester Vision 2030 – Part 3
    Winchester Vision 2020 – 2030 Handbook Part 3 Recommendations Report Draft December 2020 Boyle + Summers | Feria Urbanism | Momo:zo | Støriie Winchester Vision 2020 – 2030 Winchester Vision 2020 – 2030 Handbook Part 3 Recommendations Report Handbook Pt. 3 – Recommendations Report – December 2020 - DRAFT page 2 of 52 Winchester Vision 2020 – 2030 CONTENTS Executive Summary About this Report 1. Understanding the City 2. Summary of the Engagement Process 3. Vision Principles 4. Streets & Spaces of Winchester 5. Sharing Responsibility at a Local Level 6. In Favour of the Co-Created City 7. The Resource Audit 8. The Map is the Territory 9. Vision Delivery Glossary of Terms References Appendix Handbook Pt. 3 – Recommendations Report – December 2020 - DRAFT page 3 of 52 Winchester Vision 2020 – 2030 Executive Summary This document is the final part of a trilogy that together represent the Vision for Winchester 2020 – 2030. It sets out several strategies, principles, and recommendations, and applies to all who live and work in the city. This vision focusses not on buildings or urban master plans but on the people of the city. It explores ways in which they make and inhabit Winchester, and acts upon their call for greater agency. Throughout this project, in conversations or online, the people of Winchester were clear: if the new vision was to be of any practical use, it had to consider how to effect change in the city. This report outlines the mechanisms recommended to make change happen. That said, the vision has been conceived spatially and presents a strong spatial dimension. For example, it recommends a network of walking routes that connect local neighbourhoods, but which also create a skeleton of pathways and nodes across the city – pathways which connect people to local amenities, to the city and to the landscape; and nodes which becomes special places of interaction, of memory and of people.
    [Show full text]
  • The 15-Minute Commute a New Work Paradigm for the 21St Century INTRODUCTION 3
    The 15-Minute Commute A new work paradigm for the 21st century INTRODUCTION 3 Contents “Just when local cities and towns seemed to be dying, Covid-19 04 Loving Local may have come along and saved them. The realisation of the A new appreciation of our local area’s spaces and amenities 15-Minute Commute will be one of the most dramatic and long- and a new sense of community lasting legacies of the pandemic. What were previously sleepy dormitory towns are set to become vibrant centres for work and 08 The 15-Minute City community life” A planning concept that aims to allow us to meet the Mark Dixon, Founder and Chief Executive, IWG majority of our needs within a short distance of our homes 11 Making it Work Addressing the challenges of creating 15-Minute Cities, in particular urban sprawl and affordable housing 14 The Final Piece of the Jigsaw Flexible workspaces and the hub-and-spoke model of hybrid Covid-19 has profoundly changed our attitudes to make this new work paradigm a long-lasting working are crucial enablers of the 15-Minute City to how and where we want to work. Periods of reality. In the future, communities will cater to lockdown have given a glimpse of a new way of our every need within a quarter of an hour of working: one that does not involve long, daily where we live. And the final piece of the jigsaw commutes, that offers a more satisfying work/ will be provided by flexible workspace solutions life balance and that saves us money.
    [Show full text]
  • Introducing the “15-Minute City”: Sustainability, Resilience and Place Identity in Future Post-Pandemic Cities
    smart cities Perspective Introducing the “15-Minute City”: Sustainability, Resilience and Place Identity in Future Post-Pandemic Cities Carlos Moreno, Zaheer Allam *, Didier Chabaud, Catherine Gall and Florent Pratlong Chaire Entrepreneuriat Territoire Innovation (ETI), Groupe de Recherche en Gestion des Organisations (GREGOR), IAE Paris—Sorbonne Business School, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, 75013 Paris, France; [email protected] (C.M.); [email protected] (D.C.); [email protected] (C.G.); [email protected] (F.P.) * Correspondence: [email protected] Abstract: The socio-economic impacts on cities during the COVID-19 pandemic have been brutal, leading to increasing inequalities and record numbers of unemployment around the world. While cities endure lockdowns in order to ensure decent levels of health, the challenges linked to the unfolding of the pandemic have led to the need for a radical re-think of the city, leading to the re-emergence of a concept, initially proposed in 2016 by Carlos Moreno: the “15-Minute City”. The concept, offering a novel perspective of “chrono-urbanism”, adds to existing thematic of Smart Cities and the rhetoric of building more humane urban fabrics, outlined by Christopher Alexander, and that of building safer, more resilient, sustainable and inclusive cities, as depicted in the Sustainable Development Goal 11 of the United Nations. With the concept gaining ground in popular media and its subsequent adoption at policy level in a number of cities of varying scale and geographies, the present paper sets forth to introduce the concept, its origins, intent and future directions.
    [Show full text]
  • Quarterly Newsletter of GEF China Sustainable Cities Integrated Approach Pilot Project
    Quarterly Newsletter of GEF China Sustainable Cities Integrated Approach Pilot Project issue 8 June 2020 Project Progress (As of June 15, 2020) GEBJ-2: The evaluation for the technical proposal was completed on May 19, 2020. Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural The bid opening for the financial proposal and Development of P.R.C. contract negotiation were held on June 11, 2020. The PMO intends to partially adjust the The contract of the National TOD Platform tasks in the TOR. A written request of specific was officially signed on April 20, 2020. The changes will be submitted to the World Bank Project Management Office (PMO) held the task team by the end of June 2020. kick-off meeting for the hired consultant to GEBJ-3: Request of Expression of present the inception report and work plans on Interest (REOI) was posted on April 28, May 29, 2020. The inception report and work 2020. The shortlist of qualified bidders was plans were reviewed by a panel of experts on evaluated on June 10, 2020. RFP is currently June 15. It will be finalized and submitted to under preparation and will be sent to the the World Bank task team by the end of June qualified bidders by the end of June 2020. 2020. Tianjin GETJ-1: The first draft for Task 5: The Contextualized TOD Guidebook and Toolkit for Tianjin was completed at the beginning of May 2020. The final draft will be completed at the end of June 2020. The disbursement of grant submitted to the World Bank task team after the evaluation for the final draft is completed.
    [Show full text]
  • Living Di Erently: How Does a 15-Minute City Work?
    Browse by Specialism Search Built Environment Natural Environment Technology and Data Business and Skills Modus / Built Environment / Homes and communities / Living differently: how does a 15-minute city work? MODUS Living dierently: how does a 15-minute city work? Professor Carlos Moreno explains how neighbourhoods that contain everything we need to live could change city design for the better and help in the fight against climate change. Author: Gela Pertusini 02 July 2021 Cities and placemaking Housing Sustainability Photography: Alexandre Gaudin aking a train to work or driving to the supermarket is a part of day-to-day living that many of us don’t give much thought to. It’s a reality for millions, if not billions of people around the world. But T professor Carlos Moreno believes we could be living better. Moreno is based at Pantheon Sorbonne University in Paris and is the creator of the 15-minute city concept. He argues that neighbourhoods could be designed to contain all the amenities we need to live, no more than 15 minutes walk from a person’s front door. Not only would it negate the need for such regular use of fuel-burning transport but would give us back valuable time spent travelling or commuting each day. What is a 15-minute city? The 15-minute city is a model that shifts our mindset and offers, within 15 minutes by foot or bike, access to the six urban essentials: to live, to work, to shop, to care for one’s psychological and physical health, to educate and to enjoy leisure and cultural activities.
    [Show full text]
  • Can the 15-Minute Walking City Save Intensification Hubs in and Beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic?
    Can the 15-minute walking city save intensification hubs in and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic? Image: City of Kitchener The COVID-19 pandemic challenges many facets of urban intensification plans. Public health measures and fears of contagion rapidly depleted economic, social and transit activity in high density, transit- oriented development (TOD) hubs in places such as downtowns and centres. Simultaneously, there has been renewed interest, visions and designs for sustainable cities with ample public spaces where safe walking and cycling can flourish. We explore how adapting to pedestrian-oriented development (POD) envisioned as the 15-minute city, could serve as an alternative model throughout successive waves of the virus and beyond. Supportive of public health, sustainable mobility, intensification and transit recovery goals in the near-term, such adaptation reinforces commitment and growth management directions in regions like Waterloo, Canada heavily invested in TOD. Neluka Leanage and Pierre Filion School of Planning | University of Waterloo August 31, 2020 Contents List of Figures ................................................................................................................................................ 2 List of Appendices .......................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 3 1.1 Organization
    [Show full text]
  • Healthy Cities for Building Back Better
    HEALTHY CITIES FOR BUILDING BACK BETTER Political Statement of the WHO European Healthy Cities Network WHO European Healthy Cities Network Annual Business and Technical Conference Healthy Cities in times of pandemic: protecting communities and building back better Web-based conference, 8–10 December 2020 Healthy Cities for Building Back Better Political Statement of the WHO European Healthy Cities Network Address requests about publications of the WHO Regional Office for Europe to: Publications WHO Regional Office for Europe UN City, Marmorvej 51 DK-2100 Copenhagen Ø, Denmark Alternatively, complete an online request form for documentation, health information, or for permission to quote or translate, on the Regional Office website (http://www.euro.who.int/pubrequest). Document number: WHO/EURO:2021-2092-41847-57400 © World Health Organization 2021 Some rights reserved. This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO licence (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo). Under the terms of this licence, you may copy, redistribute and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes, provided the work is appropriately cited, as indicated below. In any use of this work, there should be no suggestion that WHO endorses any specific organization, products or services. The use of the WHO logo is not permitted. If you adapt the work, then you must license your work under the same or equivalent Creative Commons licence. If you create a translation of this work, you should add the following disclaimer along with the suggested citation: “This translation was not created by the World Health Organization (WHO).
    [Show full text]
  • White Paper 2019 2
    WHITE PAPER Paris Northgates Project 15 min. city - 30 min. territory Urban and Territorial Transitions 1 PARIS NORTHGATES PROJECT WHAT DRIVES US The world is changing. The convergence of an urbanized world with hyper connectivity came to upset both way of life and style of entrepreneurship in our territories. In this world in transition, complex and interdependent, we have to rethink the links between economy, territory and society. Disruptions, servicisation, dematerialization, ecosystems, inclusive innovation, sustainability, collaborative economy, ubiquity, social reputation, are so many realities that should be mastered to build the change. RETHINK THE PLACES OF INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN OUR TERRITORIES IN THREE KEY AREAS Innovate Re-imagine the practices and the places of innovation and entrepreneurship within organizations, cultivate creative dynamics and inclusive innovation Entrepreneurship Regenerate, co-build one’s environment, rethink one’s business model and its functioning Territory Support decision-makers in developing their territorial attractiveness through creative friction with high-performance ecosystems of entrepreneurship, innovation and lifestyles WHITE PAPER 2019 2 WE AIM To help organizations - companies, local authorities or institutions - to decode these revolutions: to anticipate future changes, to control their impacts, to regenerate their economy or service models, to revitalize processes and social skills. The Chair is intended to be a place of meeting, prospective and collective reflection, but also of feedback and of sharing of experiences. It aims to develop new ways of undertaking to fertilize our territories. It is designed to be a source of innovation, disruption, new ideas, and of disciplinary, scientific and cultural interactions. It seeks to encourage the convergence of experiences and new practices.
    [Show full text]
  • Impacts of Movement Restrictions in the Urban Neighbourhoods Coping with the COVID-19 Pandemic
    Changing context of walking behaviour: Impacts of movement restrictions in the urban neighbourhoods coping with the COVID-19 Pandemic Aynaz LOTFATA1, Ayse Gul GEMCI2, Bahar FERAH3 Abstract Recent theoretical and empirical urban planning studies suggest that the availability of daily amenities, such as shopping stores, health care units, education services, pharmacies, within a 15-20-minute walking distance can keep daily life flux and also bring physical activities to individuals coping with the movement limitations of lockdowns during the COVID-19 Pandemic. This paper focuses on the relationship between neighborhood walkability and the changing walking behavior of 514 individuals during these lockdowns. The spatial context of this relationship highlights three main urban design aspects of the novel and innovative urban neighborhood planning: walkable access, spatial proximity, and social cohesion. This study demonstrates how restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 Pandemic affect the walking behaviors of the individuals, within 15-20 minute walkable and non-walkable neighborhoods located in different socio-economic geographies from American, European, Asian, Western Pacific, African, and Eastern Mediterranean cities. The discussion section of the methodology is supported by a survey questionnaire conducted in 24 disparate neighborhoods. Our data obtained from survey questionnaires is indicating that lockdown restrictions during the Pandemic influenced the walking purpose. Research findings also reflect limitations during the Pandemic complicate
    [Show full text]
  • The 15-Minute City Is a Model for Urban Develop- the Ment and Urban Mobility Developed by Professor 1
    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 Paris and of people, not cars. promoted by Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo. 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 Jane Jacobs 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.
    [Show full text]
  • Download the Human Scale Toolkit
    EUROPEAN NETWORK “A human scale city is a resilient city.” “Sustainable cities have to put people at the centre.” “Take every opportunity you get to give space back to the people.” HOW CAN YOUR CITY GET TO... A HUMAN SCALE? TOOLKIT: HOW CAN YOUR CITY GET TO... A HUMAN SCALE? TOOLKIT: HOW CAN YOUR CITY GET TO... A HUMAN SCALE? OPENING STATEMENTS European Commission Vitoria-Gasteiz - DG ENV EUROPEAN In April 2020, Vitoria-Gasteiz Europe is one of the most was due to host the European urbanised places in the Green Capital Network NETWORK world, and how we design and (EGCN) workshop on “Human develop our cities has a major Scale Cities”. However, the HOW CAN YOUR CITY GET TO... impact on our future. Cities COVID-19 pandemic forced us A HUMAN SCALE? should, ideally, be a place of to adapt, and turn the physical advanced social progress, meeting into a virtual one. TABLE OF CONTENTS providing high quality of life The challenges arising from and welfare for all. They the pandemic have even more should be a platform for democracy, cultural dialogue strongly shown us how important it is for a city to be Opening statements 3 and a place of green, ecological and environmental “human scale”. Such a city is designed and managed Why is now the time to act? 4 regeneration. Many European cities, like the members by focussing on people, and putting them – their health, Transformation stories 5 of the European Green Capital Network (EGCN), provide safety and well-being – above other considerations. Transformation pathways their residents with great urban areas to live in.
    [Show full text]
  • 15-Minute City: Decomposing the New Urban Planning Eutopia
    sustainability Article 15-Minute City: Decomposing the New Urban Planning Eutopia Georgia Pozoukidou * and Zoi Chatziyiannaki Faculty of Engineering, School of Spatial Planning and Development, Aristotle University Thessaloniki, GR-54124 Thessaloniki, Greece; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected]; Tel.: +30-231-099-5444 Abstract: As cities are struggling to cope with the second wave of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the idea of 15-min cities seem to have sparked planners’ imagination and politicians’ willingness for providing us with a new urban planning eutopia. This paper explores the “15-min city” concept as a structural and functional element for redesigning contemporary cities. Methodologically, a study of three case cities that have adopted this new model of city vision, is carried out. The analysis focus on understanding how the idea of 15-min cities fits the legacies of different cities as described by traditional planning principles in the context of three evaluation pillars: inclusion, safety and health. The paper argues that the 15-min city approach is not a radical new idea since it utilizes long established planning principles. Nevertheless, it uses these principles to achieve the bottom- up promotion of wellbeing while it proposes an alternative way to think about optimal resource allocation in a citywide scale. Hence, application of 15-min city implies a shift in the emphasis of planning from the accessibility of neighborhood to urban functions to the proximity of urban functions within neighborhoods, along with large systemic changes in resource allocation patterns and governance schemes citywide. Keywords: 15-min cities; proximity; inclusive planning; COVID-19 pandemic; spatial planning; land use planning; bottom-up wellbeing Citation: Pozoukidou, G.; Chatziyiannaki, Z.
    [Show full text]