In praise of the ‘15-minute city’ – the mundane planning theory terrifying conspiracists
The frightening prospect of greener, people-friendly streets and convenient amenities has sent the online right – and Tory MPs – into a tailspin…
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/feb/16/15-minute-city-planning-theory-conspiracists
This is a shining example of how stupid the men (and women) ‘down the pub’ who have been given the megaphone of social media are. Dipping into the Urban Design Reader (as one does!) I immediately find a chapter on “The Neighborhood Unit (sic)” which talks about walkable city ideas for New York in 1929. Here in UK we have Parker and Unwin. This is nothing new. Getting the idiots (including of course tory MPs) out is what is new. Walk to the shops…clean air…quieter streets…what’s not to like? Sounds like a freedom from the oppression of the modern city environment to me.
It makes me realise that the hidden enemy with which we will have to work in order to deal with climate change is not the disinterest but the conspiracy theorists. They can make so much irrelevant noise. The elephant in the living room in this issue is simply that we have to stop driving our cars to the supermarket for a sandwich (as a friend pointed out). Some how we have to get across the idea that driving a car somewhere is a privilege not a right. The time when we could do that is long passed. What is most surprising to me is the idea that the 15min city is a new concept (it is not) specifically fabricated to confound the possibly gender neutral people on the Clapham omnibus.
Playing at:
Rochester Sweeps Festival 2023: Monday May 1st. 11.45-12.20pm Boley Hill stage. 1.30-2pm City Wall stage. 2.40: the Crown stage with the Songwriter’s Den.
The Big One! 23 April 14.20 for 20 mins on the main stage at the south end of College Green near parliament.