CityLab Daily: Inside Oxford's 15-Minute City Conspiracy
Also today: Why Gen Z isn’t opting out of driving after all, and Chicago’s police chief resigns after Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s loss.
Protesters in Oxford resist the oppressive yoke of walkability on Feb. 18.
Photographer: Martin Pope/Getty Images Europe
In the UK city of Oxford, a plan to limit driving at peak hours in residential areas — and use automatic license plate readers to fine violators — has spurred a bizarre conspiracy theory among the far-right. Naysayers falsely charge that the move is actually an effort to carve the town into sealed-off “15-minute cities,” and usher in a dystopian future of surveillance and oppression.
The freakout reached a fever pitch in February when 2,000 demonstrators took to the streets to protest the proposal. But how did we get here? There’s a lot to unpack, but experts say the experience of the pandemic is a critical factor in the protest’s origins, write Feargus O'Sullivan and Daniel Zuidijk. Today on CityLab: The 15-Minute City Freakout Is a Case Study in Conspiracy Paranoia