The 15-minute city: Planners predict staying closer to home will soon mean everyone will live in a village
Experts on how Covid will radically reshape urban living as we shun city centres to return to neighbourhood high streets
Our cities are about to become villages and our lives will be lived locally, according to experts forecasting the impact of Covid.
The future of our high streets was uncertain long before Covid, but experts believe the pandemic might have thrown them an unexpected lifeline as we are encouraged to stay closer to home.
The rise in home-working and rolling lockdown restrictions will inspire a rebirth of smaller suburban centres in our cities, planners believe, with these “15-minute cities” offering everything residents need, from work to shopping, sport and leisure activities within a 15 or 20-minute walk or cycle from home.
The longer trips into city centres ‘for work or out-of-town malls for shopping and leisure will decline, they predict, as our lives contract and become more environmentally friendly, with a massive reduction in our daily journeys leading to much lower carbon monoxide emissions.
It could mean a resurgence in local high streets after a along decline that many believed was terminal. Instead, uncertainty around our return to work in offices means the economies of city centres now appears more perilous.
The notion of the 15-minute cities was already being piloted in a few pioneering places around the world, but the Covid-19 crisis, which has seen millions of people discover they can work from home, has given it a massive momentum.
Dr Husam Alwaer, reader in sustainable urban design at Dundee University, is currently running a project with his students to create a 15-minute city there. He said: “Covid-19 makes it clearer than ever the city must comprise connected neighbourhoods, villages if you want, within short distances of each other.
“Large supermarkets, sited on the very outskirts of communities, that increase our carbon footprint to reach them, could become a thing of the past. We also need to get away from the idea of building housing estates miles from shops. When many young couples seek homes for their growing families, that’s often what’s available though.
“We do not have a sense of neighbourhood. We build houses but not communities, places for sleeping in.”
Dr Alwaer said existing city centres would also have to adapt. “If we look to other European countries we see shops on the ground floor, offices on the first and homes above,” he adds. “We need to make the city centre a village of its own where money is spent locally and helps businesses thrive to the benefit of the community.
“It needs cafes, plazas and other areas that foster community and interaction. Block off a street at the weekend for community activities. Cities like Copenhagen and Frieberg in Germany, and Aarhus in Holland, have evolved in this way.
“If we encourage more people to cycle, walk or use public transport then we need to make these more user-friendly. It has to be enjoyable.”
One of the original proponents of the 15-minute city is professor Carlos Moreno, scientific director of entrepreneurship and innovation at the Sorbonne in Paris and a special envoy to Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo. He has also given advice to council chiefs in Edinburgh.
He said: “I was approached by city leaders in Edinburgh and discussed how living and working within 15 minutes of your community is vital both for the environment and indeed the health of the population.
“We have been too fond of buildings created for one
We need to make the city centre a village of its own where money is spent locally
purpose when they should be for work, shopping and living. Work, home, entertainment should be available to us locally.
“We need to repurpose buildings so that they are able to enhance all aspects of our lives. It is vital to concentrate on decentralising.”
He added: “Covid should radically change the way we work and we must abandon the long commutes to the office.”
The potential benefits to health are considerable says Irene Beautyman, of the Planning for Place Programme, which aims to work with planners to build locations where communities can flourish. She said: “Living in a community with few good shops and challenging bus or train links has an impact on health. It can make people feel lonely and isolated which obviously has an impact on their mental health.
“It is also vital to have homes for people of all ages to keep the community feel and spirit. Plans are in place to develop a 20-minute neighbourhood in the Edinburgh suburb of Westerhailes, says Irene. “The Scottish Government has included a 20-minute community in Westerhailes. The 20-minute plan can make it happen in and out of cities in rural communities, too.
“With so many people working and being at home the time is right to make it happen.”
Edinburgh councillor Neil Gardiner, convener of the city’s planning committee, said: “The
idea of mixed use, walkable communities is at the heart of the Choices for City Plan 2030 we have just consulted on. We look forward to communities where people are able to live healthy lives with green space and varied facilities within walking distance and with easy access to our beautiful city centre.”
Glasgow Green Party councillor, Christy Mearns, argues that it is vital to support locally owned shops because money spent locally stays within the community. “Every pound that is spent locally is more likely to benefit the community instead of being dispersed nationally, the way large chains do,” she said. “Research shows that 63p in the pound spent in local shops stays in the community in comparison to 40p in the big national chains. Locally owned shops source locally, keeping the local economy thriving.”
However, the Covid-19 crisis has exposed worrying gaps in local communities starved of good bus links, she adds. “Our buses are run for profit, so if a link is not making money it is cut, often leaving elderly struggling to visit relatives in other areas or attend vital hospital appointments.”
More space is also given over to roads, leaving pavements very much in second place. “Turning parking spaces into seating areas for outside cafes could enhance communities. This works well in other countries. We have an opportunity to make communities blossom. We can’t lose that.”