Having daily amenities within walking or cycling distance is more than a desirable item, but an index of quality of life, work and mental health. The ‘15-minute city’ concept heralded a new vision for cities where essential services must be easily accessible. It has been growing in popularity in recent years due to the increase in working from home and active commuting. Among the cities that have adopted the idea is Paris, which has since been crisscrossed with cycle paths. It was the highest-ranked large city in a new study.

Research published in Nature Cities by Sony Computer Laboratories evaluated around 10,000 cities, finding out the “best” examples of a 15-minute city. The number one? Zurich, Switzerland’s financial capital. 

According to the study, 99.2% of its residents live within a 15-minute walk of essential services, including schools, hospitals, parks and stores. Milan, Copenhagen, Dublin and Turin were the only other cities where more than 95% of residents could make the same claim. Despite its undoubted merit in stimulating discussion on new organization of cities, the 15-minute city cannot be applicable everywhere, and its very definition raises a few concerns.

“The heterogeneity of accessibility within cities is one of the sources of inequality. We thus simulate how much a better redistribution of resources and services could heal inequity by keeping the same resources and services or by allowing for virtually infinite resources,” the authors point out. “We conclude that the proximity-based paradigm must be generalized to work on a wide range of local population densities. Finally, socio-economic and cultural factors should be included to shift from time-based to value-based cities.”

—

Source: Nature Cities | Positive News