Local Living: The 15-Minute City Model (2024)

Cities occupy roughly 3% of Earth’s land surface (Liu et al., 2014) but are home to more than 50% of the global population (OECD & European Commission, 2020). This is expected to reach 68% by the middle of this century (United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division, 2019; United Nations Human Settlements Programme, 2022).

The global COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in restrictions and isolation, revealed existing urban plans and management to be unsustainable and insufficient, affecting vulnerable and low-income individuals the hardest (Roy & Chatterji, 2021; Ruszczyk et al., 2022; Alizadeh et al., 2023).

The fifteen-minute city (FMC), a sustainable alternative to deal with future challenges of climate change and urban population growth, was championed and implemented in 2020 by the Mayor of Paris to create “a city of proximities” (Logan et al., 2022) between humans and their surroundings. Although the concept was proposed in 2016 by Franco-Colombian Professor Carlos Moreno (Allam et al., 2023), the socioeconomic consequences of the pandemic hastened the adoption of FMC actions by cities worldwide (Moreno et al., 2021), such as Melbourne, Australia.

An FMC is a people-centric concept. It seeks to create safe, equal, and sustainable local hubs with decentralised, essential services and amenities accessible to all in a 15-minute walk or bicycle ride (Moreno et al., 2021; Papadopoulos et al., 2023); car use is therefore minimised (such as in Paris) [Allam et al., 2022] to create cleaner air and safer environments for pedestrians.

This article will present an overview of the fifteen-minute city concepts and the urban transformations already taking place in Paris and Melbourne, the latter being one of the world's most liveable cities, where FMC has been implemented.

The Fifteen-minute city

The Fiteen-minute city (FMC), or ville du quart d’heure, was developed during the 2000s and proposed in 2016 by Franco-Colombian Professor Carlos Moreno (Allam et al., 2023). It is a polycentric, human-centred city model designed for speed and efficiency to improve the quality of life and achieve social equality by placing local amenities and services within a 15-minute walk or bicycle ride (Moreno et al., 2021; Marino et al., 2023; Thaury et al., 2024). A sustainable transition would occur, with cars and public transport becoming redundant to achieve amour des lieux (attachment to place) and fulfil the six everyday essentials of “living, working, commerce, healthcare, education, and entertainment” (Khavarian-Garmsir et al., 2023; Elldér, 2021).

Restrictions on movement and travel implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown, beginning in the spring of 2020, severely tested modern urban models and management that prioritise car use for travel, services, and deliveries (Allen et al., 2022). The pandemic exacerbated urban areas' existing health, housing, and income inequalities (Mills, 2020; Roy & Chatterji, 2021; Levy et al., 2022). Furthermore, the restrictions exposed society’s poorest to greater hardships if access to essential services was reduced, especially if it required the use of public transport or the Internet (Sanchez-Diaz et al., 2021; Kar et al., 2022).

Historical precedent suggests that the COVID-19 pandemic will alter the approach to urban zoning policy (Eltarabily & Elgheznawy, 2020) and the health deficiencies of urban living. While some major cities had already adopted various but often “limited” (Staricco, 2022) 15-minute actions pre-lockdown, the focus on the hyperlocal during the pandemic resulted in the FMC concept emerging post-COVID “to support more sustainable recovery” (Khavarian-Garmsir et al., 2023) and long-term “as the new urban planning paradigm that aims to cope with intense urban challenges” (Sdoukopoulos et al., 2024).

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Historical concepts

Prof. Moreno outlined four dimensions for a successful and sustainable FMC: density, proximity, diversity, and digitalisation (Moreno et al., 2021; Allen et al., 2022). The first three have been widely discussed and critiqued in urban planning research and history by the likes of Jane Jacobs (Jacobs, 1961) Jan Gehl (Gehl, 2010), Raymond Unwin (Moroni, 2016) and William H. Whyte (Nelischer, 2022), but digitalisation is a new trend since it involves implementing digital technologies previously unavailable to urban planners. In the FMC concept, technological devices and ICT networks improve access to services and share real-time data to improve the quality of life (Moreno et al., 2021). Melbourne, Australia, has adopted this approach to map and monitor its urban infrastructure as part of a wider, long-term development project (Chau et al., 2022).

The FMC is stronglyinfluenced by two distinct, early 20th-century urban plans: the Garden City movement and the neighbourhood unit plan outlined by the British urban planner Sir Ebenezer Howard (1850-1928) and the American sociologist Clarence Perry (1872-1944), respectively (Khavarian-Garmsir et al., 2023; Staricco, 2022; Kissfazekas, 2022). In response to the slum dwellings, overcrowding, and pollution blighting the industrial cities of Britain and the USA, both urban planners envisioned carefully planned, healthy urban environments catering to the socioeconomic needs of the citizens through networks envisaged by Howard and the neighbourhoods of Perry. Sustainable living would be achieved by creating self-contained communities in which mixed land usage would incorporate green spaces and decentralised amenities within walking distance from places of residence.

Subsequent developments in urban planning theory—namely the monumental 1961 book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, by American-Canadian writer and activist Jane Jacobs—also advocated community activity (“[t]hey are physical, social and economic continuities” [Jacobs, 1961, p.121]), pedestrianisation of cities, and mixed-use developments today associated with FMC (Gómez-Varo et al., 2023). Indeed, Carlos Moreno has acknowledged the influence of Jacobs in his 15-minute concept (Allen et al., 2022).

The x-minute city

The people-centred model of living, working, and socialising in a local hub aims to end the “[s]everal decades of segregation” (Mocák et al., 2022 p.76) that has resulted in the dependence on cars. In 2024, there are 16 cities worldwide that have implemented Moreno’s ideas, with Paris being one of the first in 2020 as part of the successful re-election campaign of Mayor Anne Hidalgo (Allam et al., 2023; Bruno et al., 2023).

Paris, one of Europe’s most densely populated capital cities, is the prototype of the FMC concept (Sezer, 2022). Its radical transition to a 15-minute city is considered a “cultural change rather than urban planning” (Papas et al., 2021), which can be attributed to the city’s development, outlined by urban planning expert Prof. Srinivas, creating the “organic” conditions of a distinct urban plan, unique neighbourhoods, and accessible public transportation (Srinivas, n.d.).

Managed by the Paris en Commun platform, the city has significantly decreased car usage and reduced air pollution by expanding cycling and walking infrastructure, including converting the Seine’s busy riverbank highway, running through central Paris, into a pedestrian hub (Sezer, 2022; Pozoukidou & Chatziyiannaki, 2021). FMC advocates reducing car dependency—the “hyper-mobile urban reality” (Abdelfattah et al., 2021)—to create safe cycling and walking environments (Allam et al., 2022a, p.8). In Paris today, there are roughly 1,000 km (621 miles) of bicycle lanes, with a rapid expansion occurring during the COVID-19 restrictions on travel (Moran, 2022.). These pop-up coronapistes (corona tracks) now form part of the city’s upgraded bicycle infrastructure, reflecting the long-term change in attitude towards “sustainable mobility” (Rosi et al., 2021, p.554) and cycling as a “healthy form of mobility” (Adam et al., 2023) that occurred during the pandemic.

Green spaces or corridors have been created not only to improve Parisians’ health and well-being by encouraging physical activity (Pozoukidou & Chatziyiannaki, 2021) and multi-use of existing facilities(Moreno et al., 2021) but also as a solution to future climate change (Dakouré et al., 2023, p.62). Greening improves the accessibility and proximity to local public spaces (Quatrini et al., 2019 quoted in Herath & Bai, 2024). The green initiative also includes rooftop gardens and underground farms in unused car parks (an indicator of car ownership decline) to increase organic food production in the city’s limited space (Pozoukidou & Chatziyiannaki, 2021).

Although not as prominent an example as Paris’ urban plan, the Australian city of Melbourne, Victoria, has introduced similar FMC characteristics to become 20-minute neighbourhoods (20MNs), reflecting the growing “x-minute city” trend worldwide (Logan et al., 2022). These neighbourhoods, created in Melbourne’s high-density suburbs (Jafari et al., 2023; Slavko et al., 2020), are characterised by local employment, social and learning opportunities (shops, parks, and schools, for example), and affordable housing.

Victoria State, governing one of the world’s most liveable cities (Giblett, 2020), adopted its first long-term growth and strategy plan in 2014, Plan Melbourne 2014, which was updated to Plan Melbourne 2017-2050, of which the 20MNs are a key component. While the official summary states “[m]any of Melbourne’s established suburbs already have the ingredients for a 20-minute neighbourhood” (Victoria State Government DELWP, 2017, p.12), the city has been criticised as “monocentric” (Chau et al., 2022, p.15) with development and opportunities confined to a single, central area.

Melbourne’s growing population reflects the significant levels of urban growth occurring in cities across Australia (Thornton et al., 2022). As of 2021, more than 90% of the country’s population lives in urban areas (James et al., 2021, p.7). Furthermore, between 2022 and 2023, the national government’s Australia Bureau of Statistics (ABS) reported: “The population of Australia’s capital cities grew over 500,000 in the year ending June 2023, the largest annual growth recorded by the Australian Bureau of Statistics” (Australia Bureau of Statistics, 2024).

With the population of Melbourne projected to be 8.4 million by 2050 by the Victoria State Government Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) [Victoria State Government DELWP, 2019], the Melbourne Plan is designed to enable “living locally” despite population growth while simultaneously addressing the multiple future challenges of climate change, employment, housing affordability, and transportation.

To achieve the 20MNs of local living, the Melbourne Plan proposes to create self-sufficient, sustainable neighbourhoods of everyday services and amenities within a 20-minute walk of homes and access to cycling infrastructure and public transportation (Jafari et al., 2023; Thornton et al., 2022; Al Waer & Cooper, 2023). Car use will be minimised (Victoria State Government DELWP, 2017) and similar to Paris, public areas will become multifunctional (Chau et al., 2022). However, the distance and time have been scrutinised by Thornton et al. (2022), who report the 20-minute travel definition has been updated three times by Victoria State since 2014. The current official definition defines it as “a 10-minute walk to your destination and 10 minutes back home,” which Logal et al. (2022) consider a two-way journey rather than a full 20-minute walk.

Fifteen minutes of fame?

While notable examples of FMCs are worldwide in Australia, Europe, and North and South America (Allam et al., 2022; Lu & Diab, 2023; Guzman et al., 2024), they are not ubiquitous. The expansion and aspirations of this human-centred concept are restricted by several limitations relating to the diversity of land development and its residents, funding to adapt, diversify and equality (local gentrification) [Elldér, 2021; Marquet et al., 2024]. Furthermore, since FMCs are not master-planned cities, the focus on creating walking environments using existing urban layouts also limits accessibility for the disabled.*

However, by adopting and adapting existing urban areas, the FMCs have shown an innovative alternative to the restrictive, car-centric thinking that dominated urban planning during the 20th century and was exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The speed at which major cities have adopted the concept since lifting restrictions shows their desire and willingness to be radical to achieve equitable and sustainable urban living.

Faced with climate change and population growth, FMCs are a positive vision of a city’s future and foster a sense of community and inclusivity needed for the greater challenges in the future.