The concept of the 15-minute city is causing a stir in urban planning worldwide. It promises liveable, walkable neighbourhoods in which everything important – from schools and healthcare to workplaces – can be reached within 15 minutes. Paris, Barcelona and Melbourne have already adopted this model. But can it really improve everyday life, reduce emissions and strengthen the sense of community? In view of the World Bank’s forecast that almost 70 per cent of humanity will live in cities by 2050, the question arises: is the 15-minute city more than just an ideal? We shed light on the potential, limits and concrete realisation of a concept that could fundamentally change our cities.

Fifteen minutes. That’s about how long it takes to cook a nice portion of pasta, to walk an urban-kilometre, or to doom-scroll mindlessly through social media. But what if fifteen minutes were enough to access everything that makes life truly liveable – work, education, culture, companionship and fresh bread? And what if the future of our cities depended not on grand plans or glittering skylines, but on this humble unit of time?

The 15-minute city is not a fantasy spun by nostalgic urbanists or digital dreamers. It is a radical rethinking of space through the lens of time. And it touches a nerve. Because while our cities grow ever larger, our sense of connection grows smaller. While mobility networks stretch across continents, our neighbourhoods fracture. The distance between home and meaning – between place and belonging – is no longer measured in kilometres, but in absence.

This issue of topos is dedicated to the most subversive idea in city-making today: that maybe the future isn’t somewhere far away – but waiting right outside your front door. Carlos Moreno’s concept of the 15-minute city arrives like a quiet revolution. It doesn’t roar with architectural spectacle. It doesn’t promise hovercars or vertical jungles. Instead, it whispers something deeply human: that cities should serve the rhythms of life, not the other way around. That we might reclaim not only space, but time. Time to walk. Time to breathe. Time to live.

But let us be clear – this is no simplistic panacea. The 15-minute city raises urgent, difficult questions: Who gets to live within reach? Who is excluded from proximity? Can digital tools, zoning reforms, and participatory planning truly converge into equitable access – or are we building polished ghettos of convenience for the already privileged?

In these pages, you will find no hollow slogans. Instead, you’ll find streets transformed into social commons, suburbs stitched back together by urban foresight, digital equity tools reshaping access for the many – not the few. You’ll encounter critiques, contradictions, and above all, possibility.

This is an issue about proximity, yes – but more than that, it is about purpose. Because when we design for fifteen minutes, we are designing for a slower, kinder, more connected city. A city where time is not lost in traffic, but regained in community. Perhaps, then, the 15-minute city is not just a planning model. Perhaps it is a mirror held up to everything we’ve neglected in the name of ef- ficiency. And perhaps, just perhaps, it is a way back – to each other.

I look forward to receiving your feedback on this special and remarkable issue of topos.

Get the topos 131– 15 minute city – here.

Our last issue is all about floods. Floods, inundation, inundation – these are terrible natural disasters that are occurring more and more frequently. Climate change is reflected in such events. Cities like Valencia are experiencing nightmares, while in India and Ghana rainwater management is becoming more and more of an issue. In a series of pictures, we show what cities like Washington will look like in 100 years‘ time if it gets 3 degrees warmer. We have conducted interviews with key players in flood protection. Read more in the editorial of topos 130 – flood.