Imagine if everything you needed was only 15 mins away
Last week I came across the concept of a 15 minute city. It’s a really fascinating bit of thinking, and I can totally see how it brings many benefits with it.
The idea is quite simply that everything you might need in a city (or town) is no more than 15 mins away by walk or by cycle. What I find appealing about this is the impact on relationships and the quality of relationships we have. Something I think many of us can relate to is that we may not feel as much a part of a local community as we might have done growing up in the 70s/80s/90s. Not everything was rosy about those decades, but there were elements of neighbourhood which always felt strong.
What I like about the concept is that Carlos Moreno of Pantheon Sorbonne University in Paris has determined there should be 4 criteria:
Proximity: Things must be close.
Diversity: Land uses must be mixed to provide a wide variety of urban amenities nearby.
Density: There must be enough people to support a diversity of businesses in a compact land area. Note that Manhattan-level density is not needed, as many low-rise neighborhoods in San Francisco and other U.S. cities prove.
Ubiquity: These neighborhoods must be so common that they are available and affordable to anyone who wants to live in one.
There’s a lot of good thinking in these 4 points. Each is measurable on its own, and you can see the interconnectedness each criteria has on the other points.
The ubiquity point I think is the most interesting. That it can’t be seen as something only those with money can afford, but that it’s available to everyone, and so equitably positioned around the country, that you’re not worse off by being in a 15 min city.
Importantly, what this model considers is time. That spending 2 hours commute time isn’t healthy. It’s not productive. It’s dead time. Even if you’re reading a paper, listening to a podcast or watching Netflix, that’s a lot of time each day you could use better in other ways. That going to the gym shouldn’t take you 20 mins to go to. Or getting to the bank is a 10 min drive, requires parking and then hurrying back.
It’s a concept which won’t hit straight away. It’s going to take time to build and work towards.
As it related to coworking and what we’re offering here at The Epping Connection is that people have an option for a workspace that fits that 15 min mentality. When I set up TEC, I didn’t know about this project, but I am completely bought into it. I want Epping people to feel that they have a good option by working in the town they live in. That their commute is no more than a 15 min walk from home. That the High Street provides all their day to day needs, and that you build a community by getting to know other coworkers and businesses in the town you live in. I’m all about cultivating that broader sense of community and collaboration in different ways. To that end, the amenities we offer, are just the functional part of what our coworking space can do, and if you think there’s potential for collaboration on community projects in Epping, get in touch and let me know!
Full credit to Dan Luscher’s blog that I took a lot of the above from.
