15-minute cities are being proposed as entirely beneficial ideas, but they may be hiding oppressive policies beneath the surface. What do you think?

From Children’s Health Defense. The “15-minute city” made headlines this month, spurred by controversy over plans by the U.K.’s Oxfordshire County Council to pilot “traffic filters” to reduce car use as part of the city of Oxford’s 2040 development strategy.

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Under the filter plan, Oxfordshire will be divided into six districts. Beginning in 2024, residents will be able to drive within their neighborhoods, but license plate recognition cameras will fine private cars £70 for passing a filter without a permit. Vehicles such as bikes and public transportation will be exempt.

Residents can apply for a permit to drive through the filters up to 100 days per year, and residents living outside the zones can apply for a permit for up to 25 times per year. The filters will be in effect daily from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

The county council said the plan is not meant to coerce residents into staying in their neighborhoods, but rather to address traffic congestion by “making walking, cycling, public and shared transport the natural first choice.”

Critics of the plan garnered thousands of signatures on petitions opposing it. The plan also sparked several protests, with local workers speaking out in the press. …

But the 15-minute city concept has sparked widespread public concern beyond Oxford, particularly among the growing number of people concerned by policy proposals promoted by the World Economic Forum (WEF) that involve widespread implementation of top-down environmental and urban policies, as seen on Twitter, in numerous articles and in videos.

WEF members discussed many such policies at the January meeting in Davos.

Klaus Schwab barely finished his opening remarks at WEF 23 and a Swiss MP from the Greens Party is already promoting a 15 minute city style concept where people no longer need cars. Also encourages punishing businesses that don't adhere to climate agreements. #wef23 pic.twitter.com/3S7WUb7TZ0

— Rukshan Fernando (@therealrukshan) January 16, 2023

What is the 15-minute city?

During the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, mainstream media, urban planners, the U.N. and developers — many with ties to the WEF — began promoting the 15-minute city — a new urbanist proposal that cities be redesigned into decentralized microcities where people could meet their needs for living, working and playing within 15 minutes of their home.

The term was coined by Sorbonne University professor Carlos Moreno, also known as a pioneer of the “smart city” — a city equipped with extensive capacity for artificial intelligence (AI) digital surveillance monitoring. …

Fifteen-minute city advocates say the self-sufficient neighborhood concept is an old one and is how cities were imagined before cars.

That is largely the point, according to proponents of the concept who argue that reducing carbon emissions to slow climate change is at the heart of the 15-minute city concept.

Building [cities] back better? 

In March 2021, The Guardian reported that lockdowns led to an unprecedented 7% decrease in carbon emissions in 2020, at least in high-income countries. The article warned that when lockdowns ended there would be a swift rebound in emissions rates.

An equivalent drop in emissions would be needed every two years to remain within safe limits of global warming, according to Corinne Le Quéré, Ph.D., author of the study cited in the article and a WEF contributor.

Dave Reay, Ph.D., chair in Carbon Management & Education, School of Geosciences, at the University of Edinburgh, told The Guardian it was incumbent upon countries to “build back better” — a WEF slogan.

Different global actors began to hold up the 15-minute city as the way to do that — “to reduce emissions and improve residents’ quality of life,” as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) put it. …

The pandemic gave the idea new relevance, WEF author Lisa Chamberlain said, referring to the lockdowns.

She cautioned that implementing the idea would require sacrifice, or “creative destruction brought on by a technical revolution,” but cities that don’t redesign themselves in this way will “struggle mightily.” …

Who’s behind the push for the 15-minute city?

Efforts to pilot the 15-minute city in practice are largely driven by C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, made up of 96 mayors of cities from around the world, funded by major corporations and philanthropic foundations and focused on urban activism for climate change.

The group was founded in 2005, by the mayor of London, and in 2006, it merged with the Clinton Climate Initiative.

C40 Cities also works closely with developer Arup Group, a WEF-affiliated organization, to create development plans to redevelop “sustainable” or “net zero” buildings to address the problem of climate change.

In July 2020, the group published a framework for cities to “build back better.” The organization promotes the 15-minute city model as a new roadmap for a post-pandemic world. …

A walkable city with amenities close to home, what could be the problem?

Some planners, even within the new urbanist school of thought, link the concept to the history of top-down urban planning approaches that exclude the marginalized.

At the CityLab 2021 conference, hosted by Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Aspen Institute, Jay Pitter, a Toronto-based urban designer, commented:

“I’m a champion of the hyper-local, as certainly we need more resilient, climate change-resistant cities. …

“However, I am averse to this concept. It doesn’t take into account the histories of urban inequity, intentionally imposed by technocratic and colonial planning approaches, such as segregated neighborhoods, deep amenity inequity and discriminatory policing of our public spaces.”

Pitter said many marginalized communities are opposed to ideas like this because they lead to further displacement. …

What do you think of 15-minute cities? Share your thoughts and prayers below.

(Excerpt from Children’s Health Defense. Photo Credit: Canva)