The ’15-minute city’ has become a toxic term in Britain, so controversial that the city of Oxford has stopped using it and the Transport Secretary has spread discredited conspiracy theories about the city planning scheme.
But while fake news spreads about officials implementing ‘climate lockdowns’ to ‘lock’ people in their neighborhoods, Parisians across the Channel are enjoying their new 15-minute neighborhoods. The French have been stereotyped for their love of protest, so the lack of commotion surrounding the redevelopment of their capital stands in stark contrast to the frenzied response in Oxford.
Carlos Moreno, a jovial and owlish professor at Sorbonne University, coined the phrase “cities of 15 minutes” and has quietly started setting it up in Paris. He looks bewildered when asked how his modest proposal for a nicer city life has led to such vile conspiracy theories, and takes it all in good humor, despite the death threats and other abuse he has received.
Moreno says: “We have no conspiracists, because in Paris it is impossible to say that Moreno wants to create a new lockdown of Paris. It is impossible to say that I am Pol Pot or that I am Stalin – because we live in Paris, I can invite guests to visit me and they see that this is impossible.
“We have created many new neighborhoods and they are popular. The opposition in Paris is not the same as in Britain, because no one in Paris can say that we want to create an open prison – it is clear that this is not the case. We have beautiful new green spaces and areas to live in.”
Moreno has worked with Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to make the arrondissements more prosperous and pleasant to live in. He says there are 50 15-minute cities up and running, with more to follow.
“We have an excellent mayor who is committed to tackling climate change. She said the 15-minute city will be the backbone for creating a new urban development plan. The last time Paris had a new urban plan was in 2000, so this roadmap will be relevant for at least the next ten to fifteen years,” he explains.
“I said to Hidalgo: the 15-minute city is not an urban traffic plan. The 15-minute city is a radical change in our lives.”
Moreno has written a new book about his theory, The 15-Minute City, which is being implemented in cities from Milan to Buenos Aires. In it he explains his theory, which is quite simple. When many modern cities were designed, they were intended for men to work in. Their wives and families stayed in the suburbs while the workers drove in. So they are designed around the car and divided into different districts: the financial district (think Canary Wharf), the cultural area (e.g. West End) and then the suburbs. They are also often divided into richer and poorer areas; In the less prosperous area northeast of Paris, according to Moreno, up to 40% of housing consists of social housing. In the wealthier west of Paris this falls below 5%.
“My idea is to break this three-way segregation,” he says.
Moreno thinks this segregation leads to a poorer quality of life, one designed around outdated ‘male desires’, so his proposal is to mix this up and create housing projects with a mix of social, affordable and more expensive housing, so that different social strata can mix. . He also wants to bring schools and children’s areas closer to work and home, so that caregivers can travel around more easily and participate in society. He also believes that offices should generally be closer to homes, as well as to cultural sites, doctors, shops and other amenities. Shared spaces such as parks help the people living in the areas form communities.
An example of this is the new development of Îlot Saint-Germain in one of the most chic areas of Paris. It is located in the old Ministry of Defense, and apartments with beautiful views of the Eiffel Tower have a social rent of €600 per month.
Moreno says there was “aggressive” resistance to this, not from conspiracy theorists, but from wealthy Parisians who did not want lower-income people living in their districts.
“It was a scandal for the richest that the working class lived here in the 7th arrondissement. They said we will lower the price of our real estate and there will be more crime. The local mayor of the district opposed this. But now it is so beautiful, with a higher quality of life, the development has won awards, it is a desirable place to live.”
The city has also revitalized the Clichy-Batignolles district in Paris’s less affluent northwest, creating a green, village-like atmosphere. About a quarter of that is taken up by greenery and a new park.
“As a 15-minute neighborhood, it’s incredible,” Moreno said. “It is beautiful, it has proximity, social mixing, 50% of the residents live in social housing, 25% are middle class and 25% own their home.”
Many of his proposals are dear to the culture of the French. In a large, affluent metropolis like Paris, small stores can easily be suffocated by large chains. The city of Paris has taken measures to combat this in its new plan.
“We have a commercial subsidiary of the City of Paris that has invested €200 million in managing shopping areas in the city at rates below the speculative real estate market. This is specifically for renting to small shops, artisans, bakeries, bookstores. This is not only a good investment because it creates a good economic model, but it also preserves the culture of the city of Paris,” says Moreno. This is in line with the 15-minute city plan, as local shops are kept close to homes so people can walk down from their apartment to pick up a fresh baguette from an independent bakery. “It makes for a more vibrant neighborhood,” he adds.
Hidalgo inevitably faced major backlash from the motoring lobby. Stroll along the banks of the Seine today in the new protected parks and outdoor bars, and it’s hard to imagine that this was recently a high-traffic highway. But under Moreno’s guidance this became reality.
There has been a stir in London over the expansion of London’s ultra-low emission zone, and attempts to pedestrianise Oxford Street, the city’s busiest shopping area, have failed. So how did Hidalgo do it?
“The drivers were radically very vocal and said we wanted to attack their individual rights and their freedom. The motorists’ lobby said that they cannot be elected without our support, and that they are very powerful in France,” Moreno said. But Hidalgo bluffed: “She often says: ‘I was elected twice, with opposition from the car lobby.’ In 2024, no one is asking to reopen the Seine highway, no one wants the Seine city park to be open to cars.”
In his book, Moreno talks about the concept of a “giant metronome of the city” that makes people hurry. He wants to slow this down so people can reclaim their “useful time” from commuting and traveling to shops and cultural areas.
Moreno says this will happen with or without him; After the Covid crisis, many offices are selling their large spaces in the financial district and moving closer to residential areas. People are choosing jobs that allow them to work remotely or that are closer to home.
“I would bet that in the next year and decade we will see another transformation of commercial real estate,” he says. “Companies are now choosing multifunctional areas with homes, schools and shops for their office space. The time of skyscrapers in masculine design is over.”
The 15-Minute City will be released on May 7.