This one has been flying around my #Facebook friends list. In and of itself, it’s true. I have no argument with what it says. But there’s a lot it’s not saying, and I can’t help but feel like it’s designed to disparage the #15minuteCity concept by that omission.

First, the concept itself. The idea of the 15-minute city (“#15mC”) is pretty simple: everything you need for your daily life should be within 15 minutes’ #walk. Some definitions have “walk or #bicycle ride,” but I think that drastically weakens the concept.

In other words, a healthy, able-bodied adult should be able to get to all the usual destinations in no more than a quarter of an hour, on foot. I would add to this that #children, the #elderly, and people of all ages with #disabilities should also be able to get where they’re going via accessible #public #transit, in the same amount of time.

All the usual destinations. Which yes, means #grocery #stores, #restaurants, #movie #theaters, etc.—for people who #work there as well as the patrons. And every other kind of #workplace too. Of course you don’t have to work or eat or shop close to home. But the option needs to be there, and the work has to be able to pay for all the rest.

That’s always been part of the concept. If the work criterion is not met, you don’t have a 15mC; you have a theme park, like the post says. Fair enough.

Yes, and? If you have a #house without a roof, you don’t have a house, you have a collection of walls. If you have a plate without #food on it, you don’t have a meal, you have #hunger. If you have a #legislature that can arbitrarily kick out its members for voicing their opinions, you don’t have #liberty, you have #tyranny. Everyone understands this.

So if we agree that the 15mC is a good idea—I certainly think it is—then let’s try to make it happen. This kind of sniping strikes me as less a valid critique and more an attempt to make the whole idea sound impossible.

Maybe that’s not the intent, but it’s sure how it comes across. Yeah … don’t do that.

RT @papa_enrica
3 PhD #studentships (stipend and fee waiver) and 3 PhD fee waiver studentships ⁦@UniWestminster⁩. Write to if interested in applying on #mobility #TOD #15mc #connectivity #access ⁩ ⁦@RGAccessibility⁩ ⁦@EITUrbanMob⁩ https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/CXM269/ac-research-studentship