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We all know the concept. Now here's an interactive map that allows you to explore cities around the world and see how 15-minute they are. In the default case, it is based on how many points of interest somebody could walk to in under 15 minutes (but there's also a bike toggle). A blue cell means the walk time is less than 15 minutes. And a red cell means it's greater than 15 minutes.
Here's Toronto:
Salt Lake City:
Houston:
Miami:
Paris:
Tokyo:
I tried not to adjust the scale at all, but the amount of blue/red you see will depend on the cropping of each map. Still, it's pretty clear that Tokyo and Houston are not the same kind of city. What a contrast.
In some cases, though, I think the blue areas could be, in a way, overstated. Technically, I'm sure the data is right, but practically speaking, a blue area may not be very pedestrian oriented, meaning most people still drive. This is where good urban design factors. A 15-minute walk will feel very different depending on what you're walking on and through.
Maps from 15-min-City; cover photo by HANVIN CHEONG on Unsplash
The 15-minute city is a popular topic these days. So here is a recent study that used GPS data from 40 million US mobile phones to estimate the percentage of consumption-related trips that actually adhere to this concept. The unsurprising result:
The overwhelming majority of Americans have never experienced anything resembling a 15-minute city. The median resident, we found, makes only 14% of their consumption trips within a 15-minute walking radius.
There is, of course, regional variation. For New York City, the data suggests that 42% of consumption-related trips occur within a 15-minute walking radius. Whereas in more sprawling cities like Atlanta, it's only 10% of trips. Again, this is not surprising. But it begs the question: What should we do?
The challenge is that 15-minute cities generally require built environments that are dense, conducive to walking, and filled with a concentration of different amenities. And this is more or less the opposite of the prototypical suburban model, where the car and single-use zoning tends to spread everything out.
The good news is that zoning is relatively easy to change. For instance, if we want to allow corner stores in our residential neighborhoods, that is a decision we can make. The greater hurdle will be transforming car-oriented communities into places where people might actually want to walk. This is much more difficult.
But of course, it too can be done.
On most days, I walk to the office. That is going to be changing later this summer, but what I'm about to say will still apply.
Because I walk more often than I drive, whenever I have to go somewhere that necessitates a car and that obligates me to leave during the evening rush, the first thing I usually think to myself is "shit, it's going to really suck getting out of downtown."
I have very little patience when it comes to sitting in traffic. So when I'm faced with this kind of situation, my mind immediately goes to: "okay Brandon, what are your other options here?"
And this is exactly what happened this past Friday. I had a dinner up in Vaughan after work and I opted to take the subway to VMC station (the northern terminus of one of Toronto's lines).
It was actually my first time riding this new line extension and it was cool to see the area around the station. It's not yet a 15-minute community, but I believe it can get there with some narrow streets and the right kind of ground floors.
The entire trip took about 45 minutes, and I can tell you that on more than one occasion I thought to myself, "this is way better than sitting in traffic."
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