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.

Just one more reminder - the links between 15 minute cities & not be allowed to leave an area come from the same people who claimed 5G masts caused covid

@UsingChangeofName that's far too much logic!

Having everything within 15 mins is a great idea. I get that not everyone can have it, but why would you launch a campaign against it? Also what is his plan for it. Will he move doctors 30min away from pharmacies just so he can say he has stopped a 15 minute area?

@Doublerainbow23 where do you live? I'm not sure how it works to have all that on your doorstep without high population density which obviously doesn't mean lots of detached houses

Error

The whole concept of 15 minute neighbourhoods is about convenience. It's not about keeping anyone in a zone.

The emphasis on walking and cycling is because it's a win-win situation. Close amenities means walking is possible which boosts people's health and keeps cars off the road which boosts people's health and the environment.

That’s not true. It’s been a misleading ‘fact’ put about online.

It sounds great. But how would this be implemented on a widespread basis in practice in the UK? I don't really understand how it can be.

My town has 1 hospital. I am a 30-40 min drive from it (depending on traffic). The hospital is in the centre of the town, so many others all around in the suburbs will be in a similar position to me.

So, is the NHS supposed to build another 2-3 hospitals? Even if they are small ones, where is the money coming from? And the land? And then do this in every sizeable town across the country?

My local high street is very small and certainly doesn't have all the facilities that you have, and is a 20min walk away from my house. Is the local council meant to compulsory purchase and bulldoze a load of houses so that I can have everything built within only a 15min walk away?

If you were building a town from scratch, yes, its a great idea. I just don't see how we could retrospectively make existing towns work in this way.

My DH cannot walk for more than about 10 mins (spine injury). but does not qualify for Blue Badge.

Original ULEZ was a small area that had dense traffic.
Since then the old Black Cabs have gone, and I think all the old polluting buses have been replaced. Now the oldest cars have been scrapped and the older cars are now compliant with earlier Euro Standard so tailpipe emissions will have improved even if not to the latest standards.

Isn’t the whole thing about trying to give more people the option of having more services within 15 minutes if they want? So, planning with that in mind?

It’s not about forcing people to do anything or to stop doing anything.

if I’m right and that’s what it is, what could anyone have against the idea?

Yeah, I do find this naive idea that people go from marching to and fro for their 15 minute services throughout out the day to being so disabled that you get a blue badge frustrating - that there aren't an abundance of people living in the gulf between the two.

The whole concept of 15 minute neighbourhoods is about convenience. It's not about keeping anyone in a zone.

It's a good idea but surely requires huge investment which is ££££ hence why it's not a popular idea now.

How do they create these 15 minute neighbourhoods then?

Yes you're right @Dadfromthesea. It's a concept from planning for new or redevelopments rather than an initiative to be done onto people.

Just meaning eg. don't build a massive estate miles from anywhere with no shops or amenities.

You arent going to be rounded up and coralled.

This gives me the rage.

The population density in France is very different to the Uk so it’s like comparing chalk and cheese.

My mind is boggling at the idea of everyone living within a 15 minute walk of a hospital.

Oh my quote didn't quote. Poo.

Well, anyone who fears being forced into living in a 15 min city can apply this to their own post.

I live in an area like the OP, in a UK city, in a flat with 2 kids, on less than the average household income.
I love it.

I didn’t suggest any of this should apply to rural areas. I grew up on a farm in arse end of nowhere and my parents still live there. They’d have no desire to live in a city, 15 minutes or not. But the great majority of the population in developed countries lived in cities: that’s who I am speaking about.

my AIBU was more ‘why isn’t this something to aim for, for people living in cities?’ Obviously it’s not possible for loads of people at the moment - but why not aim for that?

Something I never understand about the Tories in the UK is how easy it seems to be to get people to vote against their own self interest, to turn against things that would actually benefit them 🤷‍♀️ how can better and more accessible services be a bad thing?

Investment. Which is why the Tories are anti.

I live in London zone 2 and have most of the services I need regularly nearby, but not within 15 minutes. I travel outside that most days, because the amenities are better a bit further away, even for the same service. Even when I lived in zone 1, I would travel out quite far for some leisure services, because they were just better. I do think though that it's good to have the basics within walking distance, and decent public transport to get to other areas.

I never understand the appeal of living so remotely that you can't even access schools and healthcare without a car. We don't have a car and wouldn't want the hassle or expense of one. I have a Freedom Pass due to disability so I can travel anywhere in London (and on buses outside London) on public transport for free.

I'd love to live in a 15 minute city. I think it will have to be fine for thew towns, like they built post war. Maybe hospitals are less feasible, but it's a good idea if you are building a new housing development to have doctors, dentists, schools and shops close by. You could still go out of the 15 minute zones if you needed to, but at least for the most part everything is conveniently located. I suppose its the kind of place I live in now. I can walk to most amenities but I can drive to big supermarkets/ hospitals if I need to.

never understand the appeal of living so remotely that you can't even access schools and healthcare without a car. We don't have a car and wouldn't want the hassle or expense of one. I have a Freedom Pass due to disability so I can travel anywhere in London (and on buses outside London) on public transport for free.

Agree. Can't see the appeal, especially as you get older. My MILlives in the middle of nowhere. We all hate spending hours in the car to get to see her, we have to drive miles to get to the shops when we're there. Yes, it's beautiful to look at, but fields, mountains and sheep don't look different from one day to the next.

I love holidays in the countryside or small towns in the Lakes etc. but no way I’d want to live there.

But if the cities get all the new leisure stuff, medical centre's, libraries etc etc what happens to those of us who don't have that in an hours walk and would actually really benifit?

It's another case of focusing on the cities that already have massive resources, and further isolate those of us in towns that are already suffering.