15-Minute Cities
By Tom Corsillo“Have you heard of these 15-minute cities they’re trying to implement?”
A neighbor asked me this question out of the blue recently. I told him I’m familiar with the concept, but asked what he thought a 15-minute city was and who “they” are. His response – which involved nefarious schemes by shadowy government figures – had me scratching my head. So I went home and did a Google search. I’ll come back to that, but first, let me answer a question you might be asking…
What is a 15-minute city?
If you haven’t heard the term before, it’s a planning approach in which everything people need is within a 15-minute walk or bike ride from where they live: shops, restaurants, parks, schools, health care, emergency services, etc. Research shows this kind of approach can improve quality of life, reduce traffic congestion, and yield other important environmental and economic benefits.
It’s important to note that the 15-minute city isn’t a new concept. I learned about it a few years ago from Eran Chen, executive director of the architecture firm ODA (though it was coined in 2016). Eran was the lead architect for Innovation QNS, the largest private affordable housing development in the history of Queens and a project for which Marino led communications. When Kaufman Astoria Studios, Silverstein Properties, and BedRock Real Estate Partners unveiled their plans in 2020, Eran talked at length about reimagining the dormant five-block stretch of Astoria at the southern end of Steinway Street as a vibrant 15-minute city.
Notably, the design set aside a quarter of the site’s footprint for public open space, including lawns, playgrounds, promenades, plazas, dining areas, performance spaces, dog runs and more. Everything else was situated around this public realm, with shops, restaurants, health and wellness facilities, a cinema, an art hub, an indoor community recreation center and other uses on the ground level, and a mix of homes and office space above.
The idea of Innovation QNS as a 15-minute city – or a 15-minute neighborhood, more accurately – was a central message during the years we spent talking about the plan with the community. And while there were some who opposed the development because they wanted deeper affordability or shorter buildings, the 15-minute city aspect of the design was uncontroversial at the time.
There’s actually a conspiracy theory around this?
I was shocked to learn that the term “15-minute city” has been hijacked by conspiracy theorists, initially in Europe and more recently in the United States.
Those pushing the conspiracy theory claim the 15-minute city is a wolf in sheep’s clothing – part of a plot to take away our cars and eradicate single-family homes. I won’t spend time debunking this myth, as many urban planners, architects, and public officials have done that already.
Instead, I’ll point out that the 15-minute city conspiracy theory is merely part of a broader pattern by anti-housing voices who increasingly are relying on fearmongering to suppress the creation of needed housing. You often will hear these same voices sounding the alarm about State officials trying to “take away local control” or impose “one-size-fits-all solutions” on their communities. It’s deliberately scary language designed to trigger our powerful natural instinct to protect what we see as ours. Its simplicity also helps it spread quickly. The idea of upstate bureaucrats trying to take away your home paints a vivid picture and doesn’t require any understanding of zoning or housing policy. That is why it is so effective.
But this fearmongering doesn’t stand up to even the most basic scrutiny. What’s more one-size-fits-all than Suffolk County, for example, where single-family homes account for 81 percent of the housing stock?
What should we do about it?
Pushing back isn’t difficult. It’s just tedious. Chasing down data and research to disprove misinformation, translating that information into messages that are persuasive and easy to understand, and participating in the back-and-forth that often follows can be time-consuming.
And yet it’s critical that those of us who are pro-housing put in the work to out-communicate the conspiracy theorists, fearmongers and run-of-the-mill NIMBYs. The facts are on our side, and that information is incredibly powerful. Our willingness to engage in constructive dialogue and promote smart, equitable planning solutions can mean the difference between exclusionary cookie-cutter neighborhoods and affordable, sustainable, vibrant communities. Given how much is at stake – for the un-housed, for our older neighbors, for young people about to start out on their own, for essential workers – I think it’s a worthwhile endeavor.