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The 15-minute-city in the US? Really?

Laura Puttkamer

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The 15-minute city is a concept where most daily necessities and services are reachable by foot or by bike within 15 minutes. This is working well in Paris, but car-based US-American cities do not seem to be candidates for this urban planning reconfiguration. But there are some surprisingly pedestrian-friendly cities in the States, after all.

The US are undoubtedly built for the individual car, pioneering single-use neighbourhoods, and requiring long travel times between suburbs and amenities. Following the pandemic, many cities, especially in Europe, have adopted the concept of the 15-minute city, developed by Professor Carlos Moreno. It calls for mixed-use neighbourhood planning to provide access to services like schools, offices, shops, and parks within a 15-minute walk or bike ride from people’s homes. The idea has received a lot of attention and interested.

However, the question is whether it works only in Europe’s city centres, many of which are not originally designed for the car, anyway. In US cities, which are dependent on longer distances and car ownerships, it seems almost impossible to implement 15-minute city plans. Some right-wing influencers in the US have even suggested that the concept is an anti-car conspiracy designed to confine residents. Let’s take a look at what is happening with the 15-minute city in the US!

Only 14 percent of trips have a 15-minute radius

A group of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has published a study that analyses the potential and the challenges to implementing 15-minute cities in the US. They looked at the GPS data from 40 million US mobile phones to find out how many 15-minute walks from home were taken. On average, residents only make 14 percent of their daily consumption trips locally, depending on their access to local amenities. This quantifies the reality that many US-Americans have never experienced anything close to a 15-minute city. Almost every errand turns into a car trip that costs time and money, leading to more parking spaces and pollution.

The researchers also found that there is significant local variety when it comes to the 15-minute city in the US. In the Northeast, many communities and cities are pretty walkable. For example, in New York City, around 42 percent of trips happen by bike or on foot within 15 minutes. But the fastest-growing parts of the country often have the lowest levels of 15-minute accessibility. This is the case in Atlanta, Phoenix, or Dallas, where only around 10 percent of trips occur in a 15-minute radius.

Implementing the 15-minute city concept in the suburbs of US cities is particularly challenging due to car centricity. Foto von Avi Waxman auf Unsplash

Mixed zoning as a key instrument

Retrofitting car-centric cities in the US to create tight clusters of walkable services would be difficult, if not impossible. The same applies for the typical suburbs in the US, which are designed to be tackled with a car. Still, it seems that US-Americans are not against the 15-minute city concept. Rather, they gravitate towards it. Wherever there are parks and grocery stores nearby, the study found, average travel distances fell. This is an obvious finding, but it is still important because it shows cultural preferences. And it confirms that even after a century of single-use zoning and car centricity, people in the US automatically use a 15-minute city if and when they can.

In addition, where possible, US-Americans will automatically build 15-minute city neighbourhoods. The study looked at New York City, where the zoning code in the 1960s was more flexible than in other cities. This automatically led to a mix of 15-minute amenities, which the city still benefits from today, for example in walkable neighbourhoods like Greenwich Village.

Mixed zoning is a key instrument in improving walkability and local uses that are diverse. For example, allowing pharmacies, stores, or music shops to pop up on ground floors and in suburban areas could at least take away some minutes of travel time every day and create more life in the neighbourhood.

Mixed zoning can help to make neighbourhoods more diverse and attractive, as well as walkable. Foto von Avi Waxman auf Unsplash

Focusing on economic opportunities

However, the study also found that there is a serious consequence of 15-minute cities in the US and elsewhere: The convenience of quarter-hour trips can lead to higher experienced segregation, particularly for low-income residents. People in low-income 15-minute neighbourhoods are less likely to spend time with people of other economic classes. There could be a trade-off between local living and social mobility, where the urban poor are forced to travel far away from their neighbourhoods to find economic opportunities.

Importantly, the 15-minute city must be paired with investments in improved economic opportunities and less residential segregation. When it is implemented correctly, it can support the freedom to be outside, live in a healthy environment, and spend much less time in traffic. Almost every community in the US – and the world – could benefit from well-placed amenities. Even if it is not possible to reduce travel time to 15 minutes or to make all trips on foot or by bike, time savings can drastically improve quality of life.

Around the world, maybe the most successful 15-minute city is Paris. Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Singapore, and Shanghai are also experimenting with the concept. Sydney and Melbourne are aiming for 20 and 30 minutes respectively. In the US, cities such as Ann Arbor and Cleveland are embracing the idea, while Portland is working on Complete Neighborhoods and Eugene focuses on 20-minute living.

 

 

Read more: Is the 15-minute city the ideal post-COVID city?

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