Mapping of 15-minute City Practices
In 2020, Paris’ mayor Anne Hidalgo launched an ambitious campaign, pledging to transform Paris into a 15-minute City. Rather than waning, interest in this transformative concept has only surged. Since then, numerous cities have joined the initiative, aiming to achieve sustainable mobility, inclusive transportation, and the establishment of climate-neutral urban environments. The number of 15-minute Cities is continually expanding, rendering existing overview studies swiftly outdated. Consequently, a notable gap persists in understanding the intricate global landscape of practical definitions, strategies, instruments, implementation experiences, as well as the needs and challenges in research and innovation associated with the 15-minute city concept and its related policy domains.
To address this knowledge gap, the European partnership Driving Urban Transitions to a Sustainable Future (DUT) has introduced the 15-minute City Transition Pathway, aiming to create a 15-minute City Innovation Portfolio. This portfolio will aggregate knowledge on strategies, policies, and other aspects of implementing the 15-minute City concept, with plans to expand it by more than 10 examples annually from 2025 onwards.
The 15-minute City mapping activity, the results of which we present here, serves as a crucial starting point, offering an initial overview for the Innovation Portfolio and analytical methods for collecting international experiences, tools, and practices in subsequent phases of the roadmap for the 15-minute City Transition Pathway. With the outcomes of this project, we aim to establish the groundwork for the development of the Innovation Portfolio and thereby shift the discourse on the 15-minute City towards concrete aspects of practical implementation.
This report is divided into two main sections. Chapter 2 outlines the results of the extensive international study of 15-minute City practices. We highlight cities that have already implemented or are in the process of adopting 15mC policies, showcasing the diversity of approaches taken in Europe and worldwide. Subsequently, Chapter 3 provides six in-depth case studies of European cities, offering a detailed analysis of practical implementations of the 15mC paradigm. These ‘Deep Dives’ not only furnish a nuanced overview of the policies but also critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their implementation, drawing from the firsthand experiences of the respective local planning practitioners. Finally, we synthesize our findings into a summary of key learnings and present policy recommendations for consideration in Chapter 4.
Sources:
https://dutpartnership.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/DUT_15mC-Mapping_digital_final.pdf
