The 15-Minute City: Liberation or Limitation?
By Stella Kwon
People walking in Frankfurt, Germany. Photo credit: Thomas Tavernier
A late-night trip to the pharmacy. A run to the grocery store for forgotten ingredients. A morning stroll to drop off your child at school before heading to work.
These mundane tasks, often requiring long commutes or extensive foreplanning, are reimagined under the 15-minute city. This urban model, rooted in the work of Carlos Moreno, aims to embed essential services within a short walk or bike ride from home. It aims to embed essential services within walking or biking distance, prioritizing accessibility, density, and diversity (Moreno et al., 2021). The concept gained international momentum when Paris’s mayor, Anne Hidalgo, partnered with Moreno to launch a “proximity revolution,” placing human well-being at the heart of urban planning (O'Sullivan, 2020). Advocates argue that by strengthening local identity and community bonds, the 15-minute city fosters both economic resilience and social cohesion (Allam et al., 2021).
However, implementation has since sparked debate. Critics question whether the 15-minute city dismantles urban inequalities — or reinforces them.
In 2023, what began as skepticism toward government-led urban planning evolved into a broader ideological battleground. Opposition coalesced around two narratives: (i) conspiracy-driven fears of “climate lockdowns” and centralized control and (ii) empirical concerns over affordability, gentrification, and participatory planning (Caprotti et al., 2024).
Conspiracy narratives frame the 15-minute city as a pretext for authoritarian control, tying it to broader anxieties about the loss of personal freedoms. Critics invoke the specter of the “Great Reset,” arguing that governments will use urban planning to impose climate-driven restrictions on movement and consumption (Caprotti et al., 2024). These fears, amplified by anti-lockdown activists, climate change deniers, and far-right groups, underscore a growing distrust in institutional authority (Caprotti et al., 2024).
In this light, early resistance to the 15-minute city was never solely about urban design but rather a broader ideological battle over autonomy, governance, and the state’s role in daily life. Dismissing such concerns as mere paranoia misses a more nuanced reality: structural alienation and a sense of exclusion from decision-making processes. When urban planning is perceived as something done to communities rather than with them, resistance becomes not only predictable but inevitable.
Thus, the ideological critiques around the 15-minute city have expanded over time, shifting from right-wing concerns over personal autonomy to left-wing critiques on gentrification and displacement. Scholars and activists now warn that 15-minute city policies risk deepening environmental gentrification, making walkable, amenity-rich neighborhoods accessible primarily to the affluent while pushing lower-income residents to the margins (Caprotti et al., 2024). Critics argue that as urban housing inequality worsens, proximity to essential services becomes a privilege tied to economic status rather than a universal right.
Therefore, a fundamental weakness in the 15-minute city is in its assumption that individuals have the agency to choose where they live. In reality, market forces often dictate who can afford to remain in revitalized neighborhoods (Caprotti et al., 2024). Without robust affordability measures, such policies intended to foster inclusion may, paradoxically, contribute to further exclusion.
We now arrive at fundamental questions about urban development more broadly: Who holds the power to shape urban development? Whose needs are prioritized in the planning process? And, at its core, who truly has the right to the city?
The 15-minute city discourse reflects a broader crisis in urban governance: the erosion of multiparty, multi-stakeholder communication channels. Polarization, misinformation, and institutional distrust make meaningful dialogue increasingly difficult. To move forward, urban planners must navigate these tensions with care, acknowledging the validity of certain critiques while dismantling harmful disinformation (Caprotti et al., 2024). Engaging with critics, addressing concerns over affordability and accessibility, and designing policies that prioritize equity pave the path forward.
Therefore, for the 15-minute city to succeed, it must resist becoming an abstract ideal imposed from a faceless institution, disconnected from the communities it claims to serve. It must be rooted in lived realities, responsive to community needs, and attuned to the diverse socio-economic conditions that shape urban life. This demands a shift from a top-down model to one that actively redistributes resources, safeguards against displacement, and fosters genuine participatory planning (Moreno et al., 2021). But what does this look like in practice?
It means investing in neighborhood councils with decision-making power over zoning and land use. It means holding regular, accessible public forums where residents can shape transportation routes, park design, and business development. It means compensating community members for their time and input in urban planning processes. In short, it means answering the question “Who has the right to the city?” not in rhetorical terms, but through structures that empower residents to exercise that right in their everyday lives.
The 15-minute city’s potential lies not in its technocratic efficiency but in its ability to transform cities into spaces of care, equity, and belonging. Without such commitments, it risks becoming yet another utopian vision that reinforces the very inequalities it seeks to dismantle.
References
Allam, Zaheer & Moreno, Carlos & Chabaud, Didier & Pratlong, Florent. (2021). Proximity-Based Planning and the "15-Minute City": A Sustainable Model for the City of the Future. Encyclopedia of the UN Sustainable Development Goals: Sustainable Cities and Communities, 1-10. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-38948-2_178-1
Caprotti, Federico & Duarte, Catalina & Joss, Simon. (2024). The 15-minute city as paranoid urbanism: Ten critical reflections. Cities. 155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2024.105497
Moreno, C., Allam, Z., Chabaud, D., Gall, C., & Pratlong, F. (2021). Introducing the “15-minute city”: Sustainability, resilience and place identity in future post-pandemic cities. Smart Cities, 4(1), 93–111. https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities4010006
O'Sullivan, F. (2020). Paris Mayor: It's Time for a '15-Minute City'. CityLab. Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-02-18/paris-mayor-pledges-a-greener-15-minute-city