Urban mobility evolution and the 15-minute city model: from holistic to bottom-up approach

In recent years, urban planners have mentioned the importance of implementing alternative city models that encourage short trips and neighborhood-scale activities such as the 15-minute city model. Several studies show that improvements in the transportation networks encourage the citizens to move themselves into their neighborhoods' borders. People seem to respond to these actions by increasing their visits to many local places such as restaurants, bars, sports centres etc. Even though during the post-covid era, people decreased significantly their movements, it is vital to encourage the creation of friendly for walking transportation networks inside the neighborhoods of the cities, based on the concept of the 15-minute city model. Large cities are becoming bigger and bigger as they offer many job opportunities. However, the massive peoples' relocation in big cities has as a result the creation of huge transportation problems. Neighborhoods have been downgraded as they were not ready to offer several services in larger populations. The 15-minute city model is designed to ensure that each citizen has quick access (15 minutes on foot) to essential services of various types. Moreover, the implementation of the 15-minute city model demands the strengthening of transportation networks promoting sustainable solutions that can support the daily walking of the habitants. This paper focuses on a literature review of the implementation of the 15-minute city model in different big cities worldwide, starting from Paris where the model is indeed a well-suited concept and focuses to the need of a cultural change rather than urban planning. The research points out not only the fact that this model can help the neighborhoods to grow up socioeconomically but the fact that the citizens can cooperate with the local authorities and participate in the redesign of their neighborhood based on the 15-minute city model. © 2023 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V.

THE 15-MINUTE CITY MODEL: THE CASE OF SICILY DURING AND AFTER COVID-19

Travel restrictions due to COVID-19 initiated a radical rethink of the urban planning process, focussing on a concept initially proposed by Carlos Moreno in 2016;the "15-Minute City” model, aiming at the improvement of quality of life by creating or rearranging cities so that residents' needs can be reached within 15-minutes on foot or by bicycle or by public transit. In continuation to a research in 2020, this paper quantifies the attractiveness of the model to residents in nine regions of Sicily in 2022. Based on statistical analysis concerning the respondents' opinion, the model examined promotes walking as an anti-stress method and improves the overall health conditions at a community level. Therefore, policy makers can revalue the existing planning process and create a blueprint for a healthier and car-free lifestyle. © 2023 UNIVERSITY OF ZILINA.

Urban mobility evolution and the 15-minute city model: from holistic to bottom-up approach

In recent years, urban planners have mentioned the importance of implementing alternative city models that encourage short trips and neighborhood-scale activities such as the 15-minute city model. Several studies show that improvements in the transportation networks encourage the citizens to move themselves into their neighborhoods' borders. People seem to respond to these actions by increasing their visits to many local places such as restaurants, bars, sports centres etc. Even though during the post-covid era, people decreased significantly their movements, it is vital to encourage the creation of friendly for walking transportation networks inside the neighborhoods of the cities, based on the concept of the 15-minute city model. Large cities are becoming bigger and bigger as they offer many job opportunities. However, the massive peoples' relocation in big cities has as a result the creation of huge transportation problems. Neighborhoods have been downgraded as they were not ready to offer several services in larger populations. The 15-minute city model is designed to ensure that each citizen has quick access (15 minutes on foot) to essential services of various types. Moreover, the implementation of the 15-minute city model demands the strengthening of transportation networks promoting sustainable solutions that can support the daily walking of the habitants. This paper focuses on a literature review of the implementation of the 15-minute city model in different big cities worldwide, starting from Paris where the model is indeed a well-suited concept and focuses to the need of a cultural change rather than urban planning. The research points out not only the fact that this model can help the neighborhoods to grow up socioeconomically but the fact that the citizens can cooperate with the local authorities and participate in the redesign of their neighborhood based on the 15-minute city model. © 2023 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V.

Coworking and the 15-Minute City

—Housing and working constitute two of the main social functions of a city, and the distance between them is a critical challenge. A 15-Minute City (or the city of the quarter of an hour) is a concept for a city in which citizens can access their daily necessities by foot or by bike within 15min. The concept was developed by Carlos Moreno to help tackle car hegemony and create more sustainable human-centric urban environments. The purpose of this chapter is to investigate how coworking space proximity may be a solution to materialize this challenge, especially nowadays given the worldwide rethinking of how we move and work in the city due to the COVID-19 pandemic. —This chapter presents an overview of different research streams concerned by this research question: the "15-Minute City” Concept, the third places, the coworking, and the amenities. It is completed by an empirical study of the Parisian situation in 2019 based on a census of coworking spaces derived from the Cartoviz database (of the Institute of the Paris region). Their presence is (one by one) precisely measured through localization into cadastral sections (coherent urban areas) and assessment of walking distances. The relationships with subway stations and real estate prices are analyzed, thanks to the Demande de Valeur Foncière database. —This research reveal four different results: Following the principles of the 15-Minute City, more and more high-skilled workers value their commuting time and would prefer to work in a coworking space located within walking distance than in a conventional office (approx. 70mn is the average daily commuting time in Paris). Since these workers will often switch companies in their life, their housing location choice is hard. If they are reluctant to telecommute from home (deprived of social interactions and knowledge spillovers), coworking spaces constitute third places and neighborhood amenities (as restaurants, movie theaters, or subway stations). This amenity status is observed in the real estate prices surrounding. The number of coworking spaces in Paris has now exceeded the number of subway stations. Most Parisians live within 500m from a coworking space. They constitute a dense network unevenly distributed. Because most of them are privately owned, they are over-represented in the rich downtown arrondissements, whereas they could balance the spatial inequality in employment. —Most of the urban economics literacy dedicated to the relationship between workplace location and household location consider traditional commuting time to conventional office through urban transport (especially individual cars, subway, and bus networks). But in the 15-Minute City, another way of working should be considered, since it is not possible to reach any districts of Paris in 15min, even if the transport system is improved. Working within walking distance is the most fruitful way to materialize the 15-Minute City. © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Redefining investable infrastructure in developing nations in a postpandemic era: the case of the 15-Minute City

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic have led developing nations to increasing debt ceilings, with an inability to invest in infrastructural developments that can benefit communities and societies, in favor of direct economic investment flows. While direct investment flows can lead to increasing employment, they do not have indirect benefits that can increase urban quality of life. An emerging concept of 15-Minute City showcases that how urban regeneration, through the precepts of chrono-urbanism, allows for proximity-based planning principles that increase the sustainability, resilience, and economic prosperity of neighborhoods. The direct beneficiaries of the funding of such a concept lead to higher quality of life, which indirectly can lead to higher economic returns;hence aligning with the precept that funding such programs can lead to higher economic resilience and vibrancy. This chapter explores the need to redefine "investable infrastructure” in line with the Sustainable Development Goals and in a postpandemic era. © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From the Neighbourhood Unit to the 15-Minute City. Past and Recent Urban Models for Post-COVID Cities

This article critically discusses the 15-Minute City model through a review of proximity-based concepts and theories developed in the twentieth century, proposed here under the umbrella term of the Proximity City, thus tracing its historical trajectory from Perry's Neighbourhood Unit to Calthorpe's Transit-Oriented Development up to more recent time-based models such as the 1-Minute City. Furthermore, it scrutinizes the limits and potential of this model against four main challenges highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, namely self-sufficiency, social cohesion and inclusiveness, environmental sustainability and climate responsiveness and resilience to future health crises. In conclusion, it provides recommendations to inform future research and practice aimed at creating eco-social urban systems for post-COVID future cities. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

From lockdown to precise prevention: Adjusting epidemic-related spatial regulations from the perspectives of the 15-minute city and spatiotemporal planning.

The COVID-19 pandemic challenged emergency management in cities worldwide. Many municipalities adopted restrictive, one-size-fits-all spatial regulations such as lockdowns without fully considering the inhabitants' daily activities and local economies. The existing epidemic regulations' unintended detrimental effects on socioeconomic sustainability necessitate a transition from the "lockdown" approach to more precise disease prevention. A spatially and temporally precise approach that balances epidemic prevention with the demands of daily activities and local economies is needed. Thus, the aim of this study was to propose a framework and key procedures for determining precise prevention regulations from the perspectives of the 15-minute city concept and spatiotemporal planning. Alternative regulations of lockdowns were determined by delineating 15-minute neighborhoods, identifying and reconfiguring facility supplies and activity demands in both normal and epidemic conditions, and performing cost-benefit analyses. Highly adaptable, spatially- and temporally-precise regulations can match the needs of different types of facilities. We demonstrated the process for determining precise prevention regulations in the case of the Jiulong 15-minute neighborhood in Beijing. Precise prevention regulations-which meet essential activity demands and are adaptable for different facility types, times, and neighborhoods-have implications for long-term urban planning and emergency management.

Exploring the "15-Minute City" and near working in Milan using mobile phone data

This paper investigates the changes in neighbourhood attractiveness during the Covid-19 pandemic (2020) compared to the year before in 2019 in the city of Milan. Central neighbourhoods recorded a drop in users from -63% to -47%, while the peripheral areas showed a relatively steady presence during the day. Indeed, remote working and the fear of public transport led to rethinking commuting and re-value working close to home. Semi-peripheral and peripheral neighbourhoods have gained a renewed role in attracting remote workers, and coworking spaces represent a valuable alternative for those willing to improve work-life balance through near working. Within this context, the paper aims to:(i) measure the presence of remote workers at the neighbourhood level;(ii) explore the accessibility to coworking spaces within 15 minutes of walking and cycling distance;(iii) focus on three peripheral neighbourhoods which show the lowest number of city users loss, do not host CSs, and present different levels of essential services and access to subway stations. The three cases are explored to understand whether they are considered feasible locations for hosting a neighbourhood coworking space. The change of the city users' presence in the Milan neighbourhoods in 2019-2020 is analysed using << TIM Big Data - Data Visual Insight >>, which includes the presence and mobility of the TIM mobile network's users.

The 15-minute city: Urban planning and design efforts toward creating sustainable neighborhoods

The purpose of this study is to explore the 15-minute city concept's underlying principles, sustainability contributions, and implementation challenges. We show that it relies on the seven basic principles of human-scale urban design, density, diversity, flexibility, proximity, digitalization, and connectivity. These principles can contribute to social, economic, and environmental sustainability in various ways. However, the 15-minute city can also been criticized for being physically deterministic, failing to take into account the needs of different social groups, biodiversity, energy-efficiency, clean energies, and culture and heritage.

The Theoretical, Practical, and Technological Foundations of the 15-Minute City Model: Proximity and Its Environmental, Social and Economic Benefits for Sustainability

Conventional and emerging paradigms of urbanism require new responses under the current circumstances, especially in relation to the integration of sustainability dimensions and technology advances. The escalating rate of urbanization, coupled with the climate emergency, fundamentally indeed disrupt the challenges that urbanism research and practice deal with, calling for adopting more innovative approaches to urban planning and design. With cities contributing around 65% of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and experiencing an unprecedented growth of population, contemporary urban policy needs to be redefined and re-assessed accordingly. While numerous urban models, such as the Compact City, the Eco-City, the Sustainable City, and the Smart City, have emerged in response to the challenges of sustainability and urbanization, the 15-Minute City has recently gained a steep popularity. This paper explores the theoretical, practical, and technological foundations of the 15-Minute City, with a particular focus on the proximity dimension of mixed land-use and its environmental, social, and economic benefits of sustainability as supported by smart technologies. We argue that this evolving model of urbanism has the potential to gain more expansion and success in regard to building more sustainable, efficient, resilient, equitable, and inclusive cities in line with the global agendas of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11, as it adds a strategic value to the amalgam of the prevailing and emerging paradigms of urbanism and their synergies with respect to increasing the benefits of sustainability while emphasizing its environmental dimension.

15-MINUTE CITY CONCEPT AS A SUSTAINABLE URBAN DEVELOPMENT ALTERNATIVE: A BRIEF OUTLINE OF CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORKS AND SLOVAK CITIES AS A CASE

In this review article, we intend to initiate a discussion on the possibilities of implementing the 15-minute city concept (FMC) in Slovak cities. Our research motivation is the relatively high potential of the idea to contribute to solving current problems of sustainable urban development to strengthen cities' resilience. It is not only about coping with the impacts of the COVID 19 pandemic but also about the need for synergy of mitigation and adaptation measures in the context of climate change and the transition to a low- to the zero-carbon development paradigm. Last but not least, it can be pointed out that the 15-minute city model will also contribute to reducing inequalities between different parts of cities, which is one of the consequences of poorly regulated suburbanization processes. The paper is structured in several parts. In the introductory section, we look for common features of the concept and its theoretical framework within various traditions and paradigms of geographical thought. We then analyse its basic functions and dimensions that are considered when planning this concept in the current conditions of urban life. We also address specific applications in world metropolises while pointing out that the concept is not rigid and can still be adapted to local natural, historical, socio-economic conditions and intraurban structures. In the last section, we present the first examples of implementing the 15-minute city ideas in Slovak cities.

INNOVATIONS FOR TACKLING POST-PANDEMIC RELATED CHALLENGES - A COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH TO DISCOVER NEW SOLUTIONS FOR HYBRID WORK IN THE CONTEXT OF 15-MINUTE CITIES

Recently we have developed a public-private partnership initiative call: UrbanLink15' which aims to identify healthier lifestyles and sustainable facilities that support residents of economic, social, and environmental impact;The initiative focuses both on promoting hybrid work developed as a relationship between organizational workspaces, living spaces, and co-working spaces in the neighborhood, and the (re)connection with sustainable mobility solutions of the concept of '15 minute city'. The article presents the research results (a survey, two focus groups and solutions of application projects) achieved with the support of researchers, practitioners, and students from different specialties such as architecture, engineering, management, applied science organized in two main topics: (1) work relationships, living spaces within the framework of "15-minute city";(2) alternative mobility through green-blue corridors and gardens. The discussion of the research results refers to the metropolitan area of Timisoara, Romania.

The 15-minute city as a hybrid model for Milan

With a special focus on Milan, we explore the interpretation of the 15-minute city as a hybrid model, where soft mobility is integrated in a holistic urbanism approach. Contemporary urban challenges, synthetized in the 15-minute city model, look for a sustainable "proximity mix": mix of uses (overcoming rigid zoning and building codes), mix of inhabitants and users, mix of time schedules and multi-purpose open space. The proposed hybrid approach considers the living-working urban experience as a whole: it proposes to consider, as a starting point for measuring the timeframe of 15 minutes, not only homes but workplaces as well. It welcomes innovative working facilities among those to be considered as essential services reachable within the 15-minute walking timeframe and it integrates open spaces within urban infrastructures by mixing the neighborhood "eco-system" -both of environment and mobility- and designing them around the central role of walking.

15-minute neighbourhood accessibility: a comparison between Naples and London

The 15-minute city seems to represent a new way of looking at the city and responding to many current challenges, including climate change, aging population, and most recently Covid-19. However, if the 15-minute city idea is useful to guarantee an adequate supply of basic services, its basic principles cannot be adaptable to what we consider a city, especially to the big city. To this end, the paper considers the 15-minute city idea as an approach to be applied to the neighbourhood scale, in which the suitable supply of basic services and pedestrian paths and spaces allows to increase accessibility to places and the quality of life of the inhabitants. In this perspective, the work provides a methodology, based mainly on spatial analysis, aimed at defining 15-minute neighbourhoods by adopting a systemic approach. The methodology is tested on some suburbs located in the cities of Naples and London, whose different morphological, settlement and functional characteristics make them a significant experimentation test.

Urban accessibility in a 15-minute city: a measure in the city of Naples, Italy

Cities accessible in 15 minutes represent a new possibility for reorganizing the urban system (times, spaces and activities) to try to respond to many current challenges, including ageing populations, energy saving and, more recently, Covid-19. A renewed concept of urban accessibility, together with the redefinition of public spaces and "soft" ways of moving (pedestrian and cycle) to reach neighbourhood services, represent a starting point not only from which to face new challenges but also to rediscover the sense of community, especially at the neighbourhood scale. The 15-minute city draws its origins from the concept of the "neighbourhood unit", developed in 1923 in a competition for the city of Chicago, to define compact residential neighbourhoods where the proximity between services and homes contributed to set out the identity character of that part of the city and to create "the sense of belonging" of a community to a place. The events of the last year strongly re-propose experimentation with this approach, also following the proposal by the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, aimed at giving a new face to Paris starting from the creation of extensive pedestrian green areas on the large boulevards that are now crossed by the cars and, therefore, to allow the inhabitants to reach, by walking, essential urban services within the 15-minute threshold. Other cities, such as New York and Milan, have also begun to work to make their neighbourhoods, especially peripheral ones, accessible in 15 minutes on foot or by bicycle, without neglecting the goal of transforming these neighbourhoods into attractive places for social gathering for local communities. In this perspective, the research work aims at identifying the urban characteristics that define a 15-minute city, starting from the cities that are launching this experimentation. Among the urban characteristics, the geomorphological, physical (concerning both the spaces and the paths, such as the geometry of the pedestrian and cycle networks), functional (distribution and location of services), socio-economic (of the population) and settlement ones are taken into consideration. According to the weights of the variables identified as significant, the work defines different areas accessible in 15 minutes based on users' willingness to walk and the geomorphological, physical, settlement and functional characteristics identified in each urban area. The work is carried out in selected districts of the city of Naples which, due to their demographic, morphological and settlement characteristics, make them a significant area of experimentation. © 2022 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)

The 15-minute city: interpreting the model to bring out urban resiliencies

In a globally connected world and increasingly smart cities, the demand for living in a physical neighborhood where one can walk and cycle among familiar people and a variety of services is always alive. It is a quality of life which meets the deep desire of community and place identity. In this regard, the 15-minutes city is the contemporary version of the classical “human measure”. The model offers a refreshing chrono-centric vision for the city that prioritizes people’s time, energy and physio-psychological health by relieving their daily commutes. The recent pandemic clearly showed this potential;the daily outdoor movement by soft mobility allowed for social life even during lockdown periods. The paper is subdivided into two main components: a theoretical discussion of the 15-minute city model as part of a broader sustainable urban planning narrative, and a practical application mapping the potentials of Milan as a 15-minute city, focusing on population distribution and urban fabric structure as a measure of performance evaluation. The emergence of the 15-minute model rebalances the building volume concentration of the consolidated Transit Oriented Development paradigm;suggesting an innovative and more articulated vision. The 15-minute approach, rooted in the organic planning of the’60, is pushed by the covid-19 emergency, making treasure of the experience of urban regeneration masterplans of the last decade. The approach falls in line with real estate strategies for place making, which aim to create new sustainable urban districts that are pedestrian oriented and carbon free. After interpreting the international framework of urbanism trends with respect to the 15-minute model, the paper focuses on the Milan case. The potentials for neighborhoods across the city of Milan is investigated to conform to an inclusive 15-minute city model, using fully-fledged and innovative mapping of proximity. This analysis aims to explore the resilience of urban resources to support walkable living environments with a guaranteed basic level of accessibility to daily needs by walking. The support to this model offered by soft mobility modes and micro-mobility devices is also raised. The results show, in a number of urban neighborhoods, a limited level of walkability although related to a spatial city structure which is able to be regenerated as a dense and effective network of 15-minute neighborhoods through tactical urbanism actions on existing open spaces and soft mobility policies, combined with long term strategies (infrastructure capacity and digital upgrading). It is a first methodological test which opens up the research towards a new inclusive concept of accessibility. © 2022 The Authors. Published by ELSEVIER B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0)

Public space and 15-minute city. A conceptual exploration for the functional reconfiguration of proximity city

The global Covid-19 pandemic has changed individuals, uses and perceptions of spaces and cities. The current debate in Urban Planning is animated by the themes of proximity, public space and accessibility to essential urban functions. The functioning of the contemporary city has definitely exploded, showing its shortcomings and underlining the need to interpret it as a fragmentable and self-sufficient entity in case of emergency. The new urban models and approaches adopted seek to respond to this by reallocating essential urban functions and eco-systemic connections so that the urban and peri-urban cooperate to initiate a process of socio-economic development. The idea of a multi-polar system marked by the metric of time of use is pursued. The centrality evolves from the geographical concept to the directional one, becoming infrastructural and cognitive to increase the liveability of the urban space. The aim of the paper is to evaluate how urban transformations, through the analysis of best practices and scientific literature, can be elements in support of the proximity city and how transformative placemaking can be part of the strategy.

Delineating a '15-minute city': An agent-based modeling approach to estimate the size of local communities

With progressively increased people living in cities, and lately the global COVID-19 outbreak, human mobility within cities has changed. Coinciding with this change, is the recent uptake of the '15-Minute City' idea in urban planning around the world. One of the hallmarks of this idea is to create a high quality of life within a city via an acceptable travel distance (i.e., 15 minutes). However, a definitive benchmark for defining a '15-Minute City' has yet to be agreed upon due to the heterogeneous character of urban morphologies worldwide. To shed light on this issue, we develop an agent-based model named 'D-FMCities' utilizing realistic street networks and points-of-interest, in this instance the borough of Queens in New York City as a test case. Through our modeling we grow diverse communities from the bottom up and estimate the size of such local communities to delineate 15-minute cities. Our findings suggest that the model could be helpful to detect the flexibility of defining the extent of a '15-minute city' and consequently support uncovering the underlying factors that may affect its various definitions and diverse sizes throughout the world. © 2021 ACM.

New urban models for more sustainable, liveable and healthier cities post covid19; reducing air pollution, noise and heat island effects and increasing green space and physical activity.

Cities are centres of innovation and wealth creation, but also hotspots of air pollution and noise, heat island effects and lack of green space, which are all detrimental to human health. They are also hotspots of COVID19. COVID19 has led to a rethink of urban public space. Therefore, is it time to re-think our urban models and reduce the health burden? We provide a narrative meta-review around a number of cutting edge and visionary urban models that that may affect health and that have been reported over the past few years. New urban concepts such as the Superblocks, the low traffic neighbourhood, 15 Minute city, Car free city or a mixture of these that may go some way in reducing the health burden related to current urban and transport practices. They will reduce air pollution and noise, heat island effects and increase green space and physical activity levels. What is still lacking though is a thorough evaluation of the effectiveness and acceptability of the schemes and the impacts on not only health, but also liveability and sustainability, although they are expected to be positive. Finally, the COVID19 pandemic may accelerate these developments and stimulus funding like the EU Next Generation funding should be used to make these changes.