What Are 15-Minute Cities and Why Is Britain’s Conservative Party Suddenly Talking About Them?
An urban planning concept promoted by a French professor and later criticized by conspiracy theorists is now being demonized by the UK’s ruling party.
A cyclist rides a Lime rental e-bike in London on Aug. 22. Fifteen-minute cities are a planning concept focused on providing amenities local to where people live.
Photographer: Jose Sarmento Matos/BloombergHaving everything you need close to your house, without needing to drive to reach it, might seem like an uncontroversial concept. But so-called 15-minute cities have become central to conspiracy theories about freedom and climate change. While the original idea is based on rethinking urban planning to make sure no one is traveling more than 15 minutes by bicycle or on foot to reach essential services, posts online have falsely conjured a dystopian vision where people are forcibly prevented from leaving their homes.
Now that idea has leaked into mainstream UK politics. During the Conservative Party’s conference this week, Secretary of State for Transport Mark Harper told an audience that he was against “sinister” plans by local councils to “decide how often you go to the shops, and that they can ration who uses the roads and when” — echoing much of the online conspiratorial chatter about the policy. Here’s how that happened.