15 Minute City

The 15-minute city aims to reorganize urban space around work, home, community and amenities – the idea is that every need is fulfilled within a 15-minute walk or short bike ride.

American cities and suburbs might only make the 15-minute cutoff if this could be done in a car.

And 15-minute communities do little to alter the harsh realities of economic and geographic inequality. They promise close-by amenities and luxurious walkability for the well-to-do urban gentry. They are mainly a fit for affluent urban neighbourhoods and far less a fit in the disadvantaged parts of our cities. As Harvard University’s Ed Glaeser points out, less advantaged groups are hardly able to live their life in their own disadvantaged neighbourhoods, which lack jobs, grocery stores and amenities found in more upscale communities.

Carlo Ratti; Director, MIT - Department of Urban Studies and Planning

Richard Florida; Professor of Business and Creativity, Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto