20-Minute Neighbourhoods

Societies worldwide are grappling with a range of urgent, interconnected challenges, including reducing carbon emissions, encouraging active lifestyles to improve health and well-being, alleviating loneliness, and revitalizing declining high streets and neighborhoods. These shared challenges are leading to convergent solutions. Town planners, city leaders, neighborhood groups, and local businesses are recognizing the benefits of designing places that include most of the essentials for daily life within a short, pleasant walk or cycle ride. These “complete, compact, and connected” places are known by different names in different communities. In Paris, it’s called the 15-minute city; in Melbourne, the 20-minute neighborhood. The specific terminology or the exact number of minutes is less important than the underlying concept. This approach promotes healthier communities, cleaner air, stronger local economies, and greater resilience against climate change.

This guide is specifically designed for planners in local councils in England, but it should also be of interest to councillors and council leaders, directors of public health, local businesses, community groups, neighborhood planning groups, education providers, healthcare providers, and other local leaders. It draws on lessons learned from Paris, Melbourne, and Portland—three cities that have been implementing this idea for several years—and presents these lessons in case studies and ten principles for success.

Sources:
https://tcpa.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/final_20mnguide-compressed.pdf