new approaches in urban planning

1. 15 Minutes City
Dr. Hoshyar Qadir Rasul
(SPU)

2. OUT LINE
- A brief history
- What is a 15-minute city?
- The “15-minute city” model
- Aims
- Paris’s experience
- Can a 15-minute city work?
- Other Places
- How to make the vision a reality?
- Applying the Model in Other Places

3. Cities will move away from their
current role as large employment
centres surrounded by dispersed
residential communities.
Instead as employers repurpose
and, in many instances, downsize
their offices and more high street
stores become vacant, there will be
an increasing shift towards
city-centre living.

4. The overall idea isn’t new: it builds on principles of New Urbanism
and transit-oriented development, and it finds its roots in the
idea of the “neighbourhood unit” advanced by the American
planner Clarence Perry in the early 1900s. Similar visions of 30-
and 20-minute cities or neighbourhoods have also emerged in the
past decade, notably in Australia.
But the 15-minute-city concept (la ville du quart d’heure) found
new popularity in 2019 from Carlos Moreno, a French-Colombian
professor who developed the idea in pursuit of amour des lieux,
or attachment to place.
A brief history

5. What is a 15-minute city?
This vision for sustainable cities imagines places where
residents can truly live locally, with everything they need just
a short walk or bike ride away.
- The “15-minute city” is an approach to urban design that
aims to improve quality of life by creating cities where
everything a resident needs can be reached within
15 minutes by foot, bike or public transit.

6. This concept puts an emphasis on careful planning at the
neighbourhood level, giving each district the features it need
s to support a full life – including jobs, food, recreation, green
space, housing, medical offices, small businesses and more.
And importantly, it’s a full life that doesn’t require a car.
What is a 15-minute city?
Paris Mayor Anne
Hidalgo (centre)
rides her bicycle in
Paris to promote her
vision of the
15-minute city
during the city’s
2020 mayoral
election.

7. - The “15-minute city” model centres around the concepts of
mobility and convenience. It was developed by Carlos Moreno in
2016, a French-Colombian professor studying technology and
cities. He observed that 66% of public space in Paris is dedicated to
cars, but “individual cars only move 17% of the population.”
- The model would bring social, economic and cultural
opportunities less than 15 minutes away from residents.
The “15-minute city” model

8. The “15-minute city” model aims to promote accessibility to
essential urban services, making them less than a 15-minute
walk away. This would make cities more sustainable and
convenient, improving the mobility and wellbeing of residents.
Aims

9. - Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo quickly became one of the most
prominent champions of the 15-minute city.
- The idea was a centrepiece of her successful 2020 reelection
campaign, and it served as a useful, colloquial packaging for work
her administration has done since 2014 to pedestrianise, promote
cycling, restrict cars and bring parks and people-first infrastructure
to the City of Light.
- It now stands as her central policy framework to improve quality
of life and help the city live up to the goals of the Paris Climate
Agreement.
- As cities around the world strive to make similar transformation
s, Paris’s experience with the 15-minute philosophy will be closely
watched for ideas that can be emulated elsewhere.
Paris’s experience

10. - There’s already compelling evidence that the 15-minute city
can work. Replacing long commutes and car-first transit with
bikes and walking would slash vehicle emissions, increase
resident health and free up roads and parking spaces for
other uses.
- It’s worth acknowledging that the 15-minute city seems so
bold and transformative precisely because the way we
design cities now is antithetical to its goals.
Can a 15-minute city work?

11. Other places pursuing the 15- or 20-minute-city concept include:
 Melbourne, which adopted a long-term strategic plan for
20-minute neighbourhoods
 Detroit, which organised a 20-minute-city concept around its
defunct streetcar grid
 Portland, whose Complete Neighborhood concept plans for
90% of the city to have “safe and convenient access to the
goods and services needed in daily life”
 Ottawa, which launched a 15-minute-neighbourhood plan to
have residents take half their trips by foot, bicycle, public transit
or by carpooling.
 C40 Cities, a city-led coalition focused on fighting climate
change, elevated the 15-minute city idea as a blueprint for post
-Covid economic recovery.
Other Places

12. To build a 15-minute city, Strong Towns recommends:
 more neighbourhood schools
 better food access
 more “third places”
 better housing access and more housing
 improved walkability
 seeing density as more than just adding high-rises
 loosening regulations that stand in the way of more-creative,
community-centric urban design.
How to make the vision a reality?

13. - The 15-minute city model isn’t about advocacy or radical
change. It is not a movement or a petition. It exists simply to
improve the sustainability and accessibility of neighbourhoods
around us, even helping create equitable communities for
lower income residents.
- Any city of any geographical layout can reap the benefits of
the model, because it simply requires rethinking our
environment, to consider the centre of urban life not as cars,
but as the people who fill it with life.
With everything being so readily accessible, residents would
rely less on car rides and public transport, reducing urban
heat, carbon emissions and redundant travelling time.
.
Applying the Model in Other Places

14. THANK YOU