AIBU to think 15-minute cities are a good thing?

[ForthegracegoI]

I live in a 15-minute city location and it's absolutely brilliant.

Within 15 minutes walk I have easy access to:

Multiple cafes, bars, pubs, restaurants.
Multiple hairdressers, salons, barbers etc.
Many, many shops.
Several gyms.
Cinema.
Two swimming pools.
My oldest's high school is literally across the road. My youngest's school is slightly further, probably 12 minutes walk.
My GP, gynaecologist, dentist, optician - all within 10 minutes walk.
Trauma centre: when my youngest fell and broke his arm on the way home from school, he was in the trauma centre and being treated straight away. We walked there, and walked home afterwards.
Hospital - DH is having an operation in a couple of weeks: he'll walk there, and probably walk home a few days later
Veterinary surgery.
Small supermarket and two different fresh produce markets, and loads of bakers / grocers / 'metro' type supermarkets.
Huge park, including a zoo and botanical garden.
Four smaller parks with play equipment and outdoor gyms - one literally across the road.
Bus stops, underground stops and the main city railway station is (just) within 15 minutes walk.

The 'price' I pay for this:
We live in an apartment, not a house.
We don't have off street parking (we do still have a car for holidays / weekend trips / trips to IKEA for big items) but we do have resident parking - it's never been a problem to get parked.

For work, DH and I both cycle - 25 minutes each way. It's a great way to build exercise into the daily routine. Our apartment building has a secure bike storage room in it.

So as not to drip feed; we don't live in the UK, we live in France. We aren't huge earners - DH is a teacher, I work in administration in a school. We are definitely in a 'naice' area, but it's not super-wealthy at all.

I can't understand why Rishi Sunak would actively campaign against making essential services easily accessible to people living in cities.

This concept just doesn't work in rural settings.
Also it doesn't work if your commute and/or getting kids to schools is not within the 15 minute boundaries.

Not a conspiracy theorist, just noting it does nothing for SEN families. Nothing new under the sun there.

I'm not fully au fait with it clearly, so dial the aggression down cheers.

How is it? 15 minute cities aim to get as many people as possible into that situation. It won’t affect rural living where it isn’t practical at all.

Um...congestion charge in London? You get a 90% discount if you live in the charging zone.

not that far fetched. It was set up more than 20 years ago!

I live on the edge of a town, but within a set of towns. Cant easily walk to the station, over a mile and down some roads without pavements,, would never cycle on roads let alone these roads, bus route only goes local, cant get into the local city on the bus, 16 miles away unless I like a 1.5hr journey plus having to get a last bus around 5.30pm from there to here, not possible if I was working there.

Doctors, more than 15 mins walk, dentist half hour at least, again on roads without pavements, not going to do that. coop (expensive) more than 15 mins walk, plus up hill to return with shopping, not going to do that either.

No other shops unless I drive a couple of miles.

So yes its great if you have it, most UK towns are not set up that way

That’s not the same as you were suggesting. Plus the OP has been clear she’s it in the UK

My son had to move a 40 minute drive away from us to be able to have his own home. My daughter is the same distance in the opposite direction. My disabled brother 15 minute drive away. My kids took 2 buses and a train to sixth form as I didn't want them in the local college that came with metal detectors and locked in classrooms.

Within 15 mins walk, I have primary and secondary schools, supermarkets, dentist, GP, optician, bars and restaurants. It is great. Very convenient

I assume that’s to me.
I was a bit sharp, and apologies for that. I’m just sick of people saying 15 minute cities restrict people, which was what you seemed to be saying - as though you wouldn’t be allowed to drive to your DC’s school. They don’t. They’re about making more services available locally.

I have most of what you describe by living in my UK town, but within 5 minutes!
House prices cheaper living in the centre of town too.
Downside for me is smallish garden.

some people who oppose it seem to think they won’t be allowed to leave their area if they lived in one, which is nonsense - it just means you have services nearby which is only a good thing. But as others have said, the idea only works if every city had the same investment/ease to get to those services which we very much don’t, and I can’t see Sunak being happy to spend money on that when services are already cut to the bone.

I didn't suggest anything
I asked if she had to pay anything outside a zone, like LTN, ULEZ.

People get very angry about this very quickly.

I live in a (large possibility suburban) village and have numerous small shops, takeaways, hairdressers/barber, a pub, a couple of primary schools within 15 minute walk. Workplaces require a drive through!

We always walk to these places when we need them and hadn't really appreciated it until we stayed with someone in London and they had NOTHING except houses in easy walking distance - it was awful.

I think the idea is that you have access to amenities within your locality, not that you can't leave.

Rishi has lost all my respect with his anti climate change policies.

I don't understand the people who seem to saying that the OP's area sounds lovely but that they don't like 15 minute cities because they don't have those facilities. Surely the point of 15 minute cities is to develop areas so that morepeople do have decent shops, schools, healthcare and leisure facilities nearby.

Most of the rest of us are fed up of being in a bus on roads that are choked with cars, and taking over an hour to do a 9 mile journey. War on motorists? What rubbish! I'll believe in a war on motorists when it's easier and cheaper to get around as a non-driver than as a driver.

And this may be absolutely fine as long as you're reasonably young, fit and able to walk but it's not just 15 minutes, it's that, plus half an hour or more around the shops etc and then 15 minutes plus back.
Many of us are so able not, or if we are now we may not be in future and these walk-only zones would be hell for us.
And how do you manage the big grocery shop?

Why do so many people launch in with how it ‘doesn’t work’ for rural areas? Well, no. The word ‘cities’ in ‘15 min cities’ sort of indictates that. It’s about making sure that in cities people can access the services they need within walking distance.
It’s not about restricting you to that location.
It’s not going to be somehow imposed rurally so you can’t get to a school because your village isn’t big enough to have one.
It’s about improving the quality of life and reducing pollution in cities.

Because these billionaire dickheads think they have authority over people. Partying when lock downs were going on, private jets when castigating people over climate change. Fuck the hypocritical dickheads. I have a tiny carbon footprint, my conscience is clean, I couldn't take up less of the world without going back to the dark ages, and I'm supposed to feel guilty about climate and whatever else. Fuck that.

There is a difference between having amenities in the area and charging people to leave the area.
Do you need to pay to go assist an elderly relative in the next zone for example.

Except they aren’t walk only zones. They’re zones where walking is practical for most. You will still be able to drive in them if you need to.

Could you explain exactly what this has to do with trying to ensure that city dwellers have the services they need within 15 minutes walk?

cardibach "They’re about making more services available locally."

it's very hard to believe that though, when services were cut for years. I had to campaign hard to get local out of hours to stay in my old patch of London.

where I live now, there's basically no out of hours. No governments do things to benefit people so you can't blame people for being worried.

tradesmen etc in my area are very worried in case the local council get ideas about ULEZ and LTN type measures. One of my neighbours drives her DD about an hour for a SEN school in the city, if they start charging to enter there, it will be another strike against people who already up against tons of problems.

Anything transport related that doesn't benefit the motorist then there's uproar.

Nobody is being charged to leave the area. That’s the conspiracy theorists talking. Yes, in some areas there is a congestion charge but it won’t change between within and outside your neighbourhood. It’s just about trying to ensure everyone has the services they need within 15 mins walk.

In Oxford I think that if you live in a zone you are allowed to drive into another zone a few times per year. Beyond that allowance you go out to the bypass and drive round to the neighbourhood you want and drive in. The Zones are like wedges of cake from the centre to the Bypass/Ringroad. It is also a good excuse for having more cameras to monitor us and a very expensive computer system to inform the Council and police and Mark Zuckerberg or Google what we are doing.