It’s no secret most cities are designed to best accommodate the automobile. I grew up in cities that were definitely not walkable.
I am one who loves walking over any other form of transportation; however, I cannot afford to waste a great amount of time moving about. Before I became reliant on the automobile, there was a brief time I was using transit; however, it became unbearable with its unreliable schedule. I have seen transit services be delayed by hours. We cannot expect individuals to rely on transit if the services are not well structured or reliable. If this problem persists, the reliance on the vehicle will without a doubt continue.
So what is the 15 minute city?
Carlos Moreno has developed the concept of the 15 minute city and has made it a popular term and vision among the urban planners in 2016. The idea of the 15 minute city is that everything you need is within 15 minutes walking or cycling distance from your home. All of your necessities are within reach.
Some examples of these necessities are the following: grocery stores, green spaces, educational facilities, daycare and other child care facilities, religious facilities, gyms, health facilities, and more.
How many of us can truly say that all of these necessities are within reasonable walking distance? Not many. There are some cities who have mastered the embodiment of active modes of transportation, some of which are Amsterdam and New York City; however, most cities, unless you are part of the population who lives in the downtown core, cannot say they are within close walking distance of their needs.
There are many benefits to having a 15 minute city layout. The Congress for New Urbanism (CNU) highlighted several, including that it is more socioeconomically equitable. Not everyone can afford a vehicle or its associated maintenance costs, especially with gas prices rising.
The 15 minute city will provide for a more accessible city for all individuals, no matter your income level. All individuals deserve to be accommodated and taken care of. Another benefit the CNU has highlighted is that the 15 minute city will reduce fuel usage, and in turn better mitigate global warming affects. Not to mention, since services are laid out to be in more convenient locations, individuals can save time and have a more improved quality of life.
Active modes of transportation improve not only our own health and well-being, but the health and wellbeing of the environment as well.
The challenge becomes: how do we change a city that is already built to best accommodate the automobile? Obviously, if we were starting from scratch this question would be a lot easier to answer; however, that is not the reality of the situation. These cities are already in place and there is no demolishing everything and starting over. Another challenge is that each year brings additional population growth.
We need to revitalize what is already built. Instead of building outwards, build inwards. We cannot solve the problem of our cities currently being auto-centric by expanding outwards and creating additional sprawl. That is adding to the problem, not resolving it. Building inwards requires more creative solutions; however, if done right, we can transform our cities to be built for people, not the automobile.
We need to take each community and transition it to mini cities within the larger city. Every city will be different in terms of how to restructure them. There is no one-size fits all solution. However, the end goal is the same: we need to strive to better serve the urban population without spreading outwards and degrading the environment even further.
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Until next time, Adena