CityLab Daily: The ‘15-Minute City’ May Be Coming to a Town Near You

In a Paris minute: Paris has been pushing forward since before Covid-19 hit with the "15-minute city" concept, a re-imagination of towns that gives residents everything they need within walking or biking distance of their homes. In the wake of the pandemic, the concept has gotten a boost globally, becoming "a powerful brand for planners and politicians desperate to sell residents on a carbon-lite existence," as Laura Bliss and Feargus O'Sullivan write.

It’s one thing to implement that idea in areas that were almost completely shaped before the automobile was invented, as in many European cities. But the challenge is far greater in the younger, sprawling cities of North America or Australia, where cars remain the dominant form of transit. Achievements in places like Detroit and Portland have been modest thus far, as urban planners also grapple with financial uncertainty and social inequities.