Walkable Cities
A recent poll of the Uk’s Top 10 Walkable Cities
In order, 1. Oxford, 2. Brighton, 3. York, 4. Bristol, 5. London, 6. Liverpool, 7. Edinburgh, 8. Manchester, 9. Cambridge, 10. Bath.
This got me thinking about the concept of 15-Minute Cities and why they haven’t properly taken off in the UK despite their sustainable benfits and improved use of the urban environment.
So what are “15 minute cities”, well it’s a concept phrased by Carlos Moreno, a professor at the Sorbonne University, and put into effect in Paris, where he alongside the Paris mayor have created over 50 “15-minute cities”. Their aim is to create a more amenable urban life, with less car use, better community and more green spaces. It’s not just Paris inacting Morenos’ radical urban planning changes but cities including Milan and Buenos Aires are taking his ideas on board to develop more sustainable urban landscapes.
His concept focuses around the historic need for the city as a place to commute in to work being replaced as a multi-use space where people can live, work and play without the requirement for a car.
His concept features:
A mix of housing types - social, affordable and expensive
Schools and children’s play areas closer to the work and home
Offices closer to homes, culture venues, doctors, shops and amenities
Shared spaces like parks to develop a sense of local community
The point of this concept is to allow people to go about their daily lives without reliance on cars, the need to take time off for doctors appointments or to sort childcare needs.
So what’s not to love and why has it been met with such discontent in the UK? Unfortunately the UK failed to provide the carrot that came with the stick. Whilst minimising car use through clever urban planning has massively succeeded in Paris, London’s ultra-low emission zones and Manchester’s proposal of Clean Air Zone’s has been met with strong opposition. Yet after the Northern Quarter in Manchester had been pedestrianised during lockdowns, there was uproar when the Council started painting the bus stops back along the roads for what people feared was the reopening of Stevenson Square to traffic.
I think the failure so far of “15 minute cities'“ in the UK stems from the Council approach to providing them, people in UK cities want more open space, be that parks or european style plazas and squares where people can interact and enjoy the urban landscape. But when the cost and quality of the public transport inhibits its use in favour of the car, it’s not the motorist that should be punished but the council who need to improve the infrastructure so that the car is no longer the easier option.