While the 15-minute city has become a loaded term, most Americans seem to like the ideas behind it. The pushback against 15-minute cities in America seems rooted in the sanctity of the automobile, “about as close to a secular god as we have in this country,” joked Thomas Campanella, a historian of city planning at Cornell University. Those street closures sparked some protests, but not nearly to the extent reported in Britain.
You should have access to parks.”Īmerican cities did much the same thing during COVID with a network of “streeteries,” closing roads to traffic and repurposing the pavement for diners and drinkers. You should have access to the place you live. “You should have access to the place you work. “People want to have all the things they need relatively close by,” said Andrew Rumbach, senior fellow at the Urban Institute. Three years later, remote work endures, and the 15-minute city feels within reach. People rediscovered the simple joys of sidewalks and parks. The societal conversation about 15-minute cities “emerged as part of the COVID experience,” said Lisa Benton-Short, a professor of geography at George Washington University.ĭuring the pandemic lockdown, many Americans abandoned daily commutes and re-centered their lives around their homes. Social media posts warned of citizens being imprisoned in their neighborhoods and separated from their cars, a distinctly un-American prospect. In early 2023, the concept became swept up in a swirl of conspiracy theories. Not until this year, though, did the 15-minute city reap its 15 minutes of global fame. A new iteration of old demographic ideas drew attention in 2020 as a pillar in the campaign platform of Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris.
0 kommentar(er)
