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World Economic Forum
minutes
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The concept of the 15-minute city, where essential services, retail and open spaces are close at hand in your local neighbourhood, has caught the imagination of people from Paris to Cleveland, with the World Economic Forum (WEF) becoming a keen backer. Cue the crazy conspiracy theories. Jim Banks speaks to Lisa Chamberlain, the WEF’s urban transformation lead; the OECD’s Aziza Akhmouch; and Professor Carlos Moreno, originator of the 15-minute cities concept, to separate fact from fi ction.
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bold idea to unclog the arteries of major cities and reduce carbon emissions, or a sinister plot to create urban prison camps and facilitate climate change lockdowns? That is the question prompted by the idea of the 15-minute city, brainchild of urbanist Carlos Moreno, a professor at the Sorbonne in Paris. The term, which Moreno coined in 2016, grew from his work on so-called ‘smart cities’, and involves an approach to urban planning that can reduce carbon emissions by bringing the fundamental elements of a good life – healthcare, education, essential retail, green spaces, cultural activities and more – to within 15 minutes of where people live.
“At Cop21, the Paris Agreement on climate change was signed to create a low-carbon road map,” Moreno explains. “I said we need to be aware that cities are the most significant contributors to emissions. I proposed a new paradigm based on proximity, more local employment and amenities, to revitalise neighbourhoods and reduce reliance on cars. “It aims to regenerate local economies and ensure more optimised use of resources,” he continues. “In 2016, it was not seen as realistic. It was seen as utopian, until the pandemic, when the concept became relevant. Cities across five continents have now embraced it as the key paradigm for post-pandemic times.”
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Those in favour The World Economic Forum (WEF) has over recent years become famous (some would say infamous) for embracing radical new ideas. That’s clear across a range of fields, from societal reforms, such as the Great Reset, to the future of communications technology – think smartphones implanted in your body, as Nokia’s CEO suggested at the 2022 Davos meeting. Yet if urbanist trends come and go, Lisa Chamberlain, urban communication lead for the WEF, believes that the concept of walkable, mixed- use urban development is more than a passing fad. “The concept became a big driver of action in cities around the world,” Chamberlain explains. “We have been trying to do something similar in urbanism for a long time, but this has suddenly captured people’s imagination. The pandemic drove home the idea that things like local access to healthcare or communities that can help each other in times of crisis are things we actually need to live.”
Aziza Akhmouch agrees. “A radical urban paradigm shift has come out of the pandemic,” emphasises the head of cities, urban policies and sustainable development at the OECD. “Every time we have a major health crisis, like cholera in Paris in the 1800s, there is a big impact on urban planning. With Covid, we
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