Slowly pedalling towards 15-minute cities

Words by NIAMH SMITH

he concept of 15-minute cities has been gaining support since the Covid-19 pandemic and, amid the climate change emergency, the need for more liveable and sustainable cities has gained prominence.

The urban planning idea, derived by French urbanist Carlos Morello in 2016, seeks to cut commuting and reduce car dependency by ensuring daily necessities and services can be reached by a 15-minute walk or bike ride from home.

Since the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo included a plan to implement the concept during her 2020 re-election campaign, it has gained significant traction and has been introduced in 16 cities worldwide, including the Netherland’s fourth-largest city, Utrecht.

The idea has also become popular in the UK, with YouGov reporting that 62% of the public would support their local authority making their area a 15-minute neighbourhood. As a result, several UK local authorities—such as Bristol, Canterbury and Sheffield—have recently stated they will ensure essential services such as schools, shops, and green spaces are all within a short distance of homes.

Lots To Consider

Local authorities are required to take a significant number of factors, such as population density and car ownership, into account when planning to establish a 15-minute city.

Mark Rebbeck, director at Altered Space, a developer of regeneration projects in northwest England, says that 15-minute cities must be designed to ensure sustainable modes of transport are easily accessible to residents: “The integration of efficient and sustainable transport systems, such as robust public transit, comprehensive cycling infrastructure, and pedestrian-friendly streets into the city's design is imperative to ensure seamless accessibility within a 15-minute radius.”

Mark also urges local authorities and developers to understand which crucial services and facilities communities need to access easily. The 15-minute city should include services that allow citizens to live a healthy lifestyle, such as parks, gyms, pharmacies and hospitals, as well as entertainment and leisure facilities, such as cinemas, nightclubs or theatres.

To ensure these are within a 15-minute walking or cycling distance, local authorities must allocate land appropriately, Mark adds. “The availability of suitable sites to facilitate the aims and requirements needed to deliver a successful 15-minute city is essential. Identifying appropriate locations that can accommodate the necessary infrastructure and services in close proximity is vital.”

Car Parks Get Progressive

Even though 15-minute cities are intended to reduce reliance on cars, local authorities must not expect to eliminate them altogether, says Rico Wojtulewicz, head of housing and planning policy at the National Federation of Builders (NFB). Therefore, local authorities must enlist the help of developers to create space on the roads for cycling and public transport lanes, he comments.

Rico highlights that the construction of underground and multi-storey car parks will provide citizens with a safe space to store their vehicles and allow more room on the road for sustainable modes of transport, which will meet the needs of both the community and the 15-minute city. “In the UK, we have a lot of people parking on roads. If you want a cycle lane where those car parking spaces are, where would the cars go? If you're not going to build any parking for them, you're going to upset a lot of people,” he states.

Rico claims that building additional parking structures is also very forward looking because, after a 15-minute city plan has been fully implemented, the need for parking recedes and these spaces can be reconfigured for other uses. “Let's say we all stop driving and 15-minute cities are successful—you've already created those underground spaces that you can use for shops and other things,” he elaborates.

Developers must also ensure that places of employment are nearby—otherwise, a large proportion of workers are likely to commute by car. “It would be sensible to put jobs closer to people,” notes Rico. “I don't just mean service sector jobs, I mean manufacturing and industrial, both light and heavy, encompassing the broad range of jobs that people actually do.”

WHERE TO BUILD THEM?

Recent announcements by a number of local authorities that they will create 15-minute city plans sparked optimism that the UK could soon host a multitude of more sustainable and enriching neighbourhoods.

Land use is the biggest barrier for developers to overcome when building the facilities necessary to establish a 15-minute city due to the UK’s ongoing land shortage. This lack of land means developers can struggle to find suitable building plots, with 48% of them considering land availability to be a major constraint to development. This problem is particularly affecting small companies; 62% of SME housebuilders say this limits their ability to build.

To combat the lack of land and provide residents access to public services, Rico recommends developers build in already populated areas and on green belt land. “Land use is key. That means you're going to have to build more in the green belt on the outside of towns, and you're going to have to build denser cities,” he says.

However, Rico acknowledges that people are strongly opposed to commercial and residential developments in these circumstances, despite the pressing need for additional housing. “We have got a big issue in this country where we want more houses, but we don’t want them in the countryside and we don’t want denser communities,” he explains.

Developers would also struggle to secure planning permission as local authorities continue to restrict building on green belt land and in populated communities as residents clearly disapprove, Rico adds. “They are probably the hardest things to get over because politicians know if they propose either of those, they might lose their votes.”

Local authorities’ inclination to oppose development of the green belt is evident; only 2% of new residential addresses were built within the green belt between 2021 and 2022.

James Dickens, managing director at Wavensmere Homes—a Birminghamheadquartered housebuilder which is currently developing six schemes on brownfield sites—states that while it would be much easier for developers to build 1,000 homes and new amenities on the green belt, brownfield land must be prioritised above building in the countryside. “If housebuilders were properly incentivised to recycle brownfield land, more sustainable sites would be brought forward.”

James believes brownfield sites are well suited to meet the principles of a 15-minute city as they are usually within walking distance of train stations and public transport hubs. Therefore, regenerating brownfield sites could be an effective method to reduce car dependency.

Development on brownfield sites is also being encouraged by the government, which is allowing councils in England to bid for a share of £60m from the Brownfield Land Release Fund 2 to regenerate this land.

Even though establishing 15-minute cities on brownfield sites would simultaneously fulfil the purpose of such centres and meet the needs of the public, transforming them can be difficult. To be granted permission to build on brownfield sites, developers must provide local authorities with evidence demonstrating how they will get rid of any existing contamination on the site, and that the 15-minute city will not reduce air quality.

Reimagining land occupied by industrial structures and warehouses, which typically contain industry contaminants such as asbestos and fuel, into sustainable neighbourhoods consisting of parks and cultural institutions could prove difficult.

Mark says transforming brownfield land into a 15-minute city would be challenging and could take many years to complete as a significant number of factors must be taken into consideration. “Executing a mixed-use development scheme, for instance, involves intricate coordination of various elements within a limited area. This includes re-evaluating existing land use, land-use regulations, zoning, and identifying appropriate locations for essential services in each neighbourhood.”

Mark adds that developers must also have access to substantial financial resource to regenerate such sites. “The construction and enhancement of infrastructure, the establishment of new amenities, and ensuring equal access for all come with high costs,” Mark explains. This could potentially exclude SME developers from considering transforming brownfield land into 15-minute cities; according to The Federation of Master Builders’ latest survey, 41% say there are sites they have an interest in, but which are considered unviable due to developer contributions and obligations, including section 106 agreements and the Community Infrastructure Levy.

Making It Happen

Even though the concept of 15-minute cities has gained support from several local authorities, so far no city in the UK has been established or reworked in a way that meets the core principles.

According to Mark, greater collaboration between the government, planning authorities and developers will be an important catalyst in their implementation. He explains that support from local and central government will make more resources available for developers and provide the necessary finances. “Collaboration between planning authorities and governmentbacked initiatives is vital to create supportive policies, frameworks and funding that encourage and assist the development of such cities.”

For example, Paris successfully implemented the concept due to the mayor’s 2020 re-election manifesto, which contained policies such as Plan Velo that would transform Paris into a 15-minute city. Plan Velo provided developers with €250m to fund the development of secure cycle parking and add 130km of cycling lanes by 2026 to ensure the city was “100% cyclable”.

Rico supports the view that local and central government must provide developers with the necessary permits to reduce residents’ dependence on cars. He says that the Netherlands was able to implement a 15-minute city in Utrecht because the local authority used compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) to develop cycle lanes.

Implementing CPOs is a legal process that allows public bodies—such as councils and railway and utility companies—to acquire land without the consent of the owner to support a regeneration project, or if it is in the public interest.

CPOs can be used to enable developers to rework areas to encourage sustainable modes of transport, Rico adds. “If you only have two car lanes, you will either have to create a new lane or use one of them as a bus lane. That is where CPOs are useful, because they mean you can use extra bits of land for what you need,” he says.

Mark emphasises that local authorities are facing increasing demands to address climate change, which he predicts will drive the adoption of 15-minute cities in the UK. “The increasingly important sustainability agenda, including the carbon footprint of the built environment and the impact of global warming, add to the arguments supporting 15-minute cities in the future,” he remarks.

As sustainability continues to rise up local authority agendas, they will be increasingly motivated to provide developers with funding to establish commercial and residential schemes and planning permissions to allocate land necessary to build a 15-minute city. However, as the cost of living crisis is showing no sign of abating in the UK, it is unlikely councils will be able to justify the significant cost required to implement the cities any time soon. Therefore, it is more probable that 15-minute cities will gain more traction once the cost of essential items and housing falls and the demand for sustainable living rises.

Words by ANDREEA DULGHERU

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