The big idea

One of the unintended effects of the pandemic was to force cities to rethink themselves. It was well long overdue, but as they said, covid-19 has accelerated the unavoidable.

In 2020 we started talking about 15-minute cities, where residents can truly live locally, with everything they need just a short walk or bike ride away.

The idea is technically not new, it was circulating already in the 1900s but it had a small renaissance with Carlos Moreno a couple of years back.

Moreno is not advocating to build a “Louvre every 15 minutes”, rather decentralising by adding more options for walking, cycling and public transport and focusing on economic development all across town.

Speaking of Louvre, Paris is at the forefront of this whole thing. Which makes sense since the city is already a microcosm of villages or “arrondissements”.

Will it work?

It will take time, a new way of planning things and involving multiple stakeholders but why not being on the optimist side.

If you are interested in reading further, here you find a lot of interesting ideas