WEBVTT - A 15-Minute City 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.560 Hi, I'm Carol Masser. In urban planning circles, the idea 0:00:03.600 --> 0:00:06.400 of a fifteen minutes city is becoming the new utopia, 0:00:06.480 --> 0:00:09.760 as Bloomberg Business Week reports and its special New Economy issue. 0:00:10.200 --> 0:00:13.760 The concept was developed primarily to reduce urban carbon emissions, 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:18.200 reimagining our towns not as divided into discrete zones, but 0:00:18.239 --> 0:00:21.880 as mosaics of neighborhoods in which almost all residents needs 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:25.280 can be met within fifteen minutes of their homes on foot, 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:29.680 by bike, or on public transit. Walkable neighborhoods and villages 0:00:29.720 --> 0:00:33.160 were the norm long before automobiles and zoning codes spread 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:35.879 out and divided up cities in the twentieth century. Yet 0:00:35.880 --> 0:00:38.760 the fifteen minutes city represents a major departure from the 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:42.400 recent past. Leaders from Paris to Portland are all working 0:00:42.400 --> 0:00:46.320 towards similar visions, and they've been further emboldened by the pandemic. 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:49.960 Their hope is to refashion cities as places for a 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:53.479 more local and somewhat slower way of life, where commuting 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:57.560 time is instead invested in richer relationships with what's nearby. 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:00.920 Skeptics they'll worry that in an era of deep social distress, 0:01:01.000 --> 0:01:06.160 that concept may exacerbate existing inequities. At Facebook, we've tripled 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:09.280 our safety and security teams and invested billions to keep 0:01:09.319 --> 0:01:13.760 our platforms safe. What's next We support updated Internet regulations 0:01:13.760 --> 0:01:17.199 that set clear rules for addressing today's toughest challenges. Learn 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:21.800 more at about dot fb dot com slash regulations. They're 0:01:21.880 --> 0:01:26.280 in fifteen Paris and other metros want to be fifteen 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:30.680 minute cities where residents needs can all be met nearby? 0:01:30.760 --> 0:01:34.160 Can the approach work in car centric places without leaving 0:01:34.200 --> 0:01:40.840 anyone out? By Virgos O'Sullivan and Laura Bliss, The Minim 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:44.040 Barracks in Paris don't look like the future of cities. 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:49.000 A staid brick and limestone complex established in along the 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:52.040 backstreet in the Moray district, It's the sort of structure 0:01:52.080 --> 0:01:54.880 you pass without a second glance into place as photogenic 0:01:54.920 --> 0:01:59.040 as Paris. A closer look at its courtyard, however, reveals 0:01:59.040 --> 0:02:02.880 a striking transfer formation. The barracks former parking lot has 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:07.120 become a public garden planted with saplings. The surrounding buildings 0:02:07.120 --> 0:02:11.280 have been converted to seventy unusually attractive public housing apartments 0:02:11.320 --> 0:02:14.200 at a cost of twelve point three million euros about 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:18.160 fourteen point five million dollars. Elsewhere in the revamped complex 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:22.560 our offices, a day care facility, artisan workshops, a clinic 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:26.560 and a cafe staffed by people with autism. The green, 0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:30.520 mixed use, community friendly approach extends to the streets beyond 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:33.880 five minutes down the road. The vast Place de la 0:02:33.880 --> 0:02:36.840 Bastie has been renovated as part of a city funded 0:02:36.880 --> 0:02:41.079 thirty million euro revamp of seven major squares. No longer 0:02:41.160 --> 0:02:45.320 a roaring island of traffic, it's now dedicated mainly to pedestrians, 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:49.360 with rows of trees where asphalt once lay. A stream 0:02:49.400 --> 0:02:52.480 of bikes runs through the square along a freshly repaved 0:02:52.560 --> 0:02:56.440 protected Corona Piste, one of the bike freeways introduced to 0:02:56.480 --> 0:03:00.000 make cycling across Greater Paris easier during the coronavirus pandemic. 0:03:00.040 --> 0:03:02.960 Make City Hall has since announced that the lanes will 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:06.440 be permanent, backed by three hundred million euros in ongoing 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:09.640 funding from the region and top ups from municipalities in 0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:13.320 the French government. Taken together, the new trees and cycleways, 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:18.079 community facilities and social housing, homes and workplaces all reflect 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:23.040 a potentially transformative vision for urban planners. The fifteen minute city. 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:27.040 The fifteen minute city represents the possibility of a decentralized city, 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:31.600 says Carlos Moreno, a scientific director and professor specializing in 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:35.920 complex systems and innovation at University of Paris. One at 0:03:35.920 --> 0:03:38.840 its heart is the concept of mixing urban social functions 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:43.480 to create a vibrant vicinity replicated like fractals across an 0:03:43.600 --> 0:03:48.760 entire urban expanse. Named Paris Mayor and Hidalgo's special envoy 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:52.160 for Smart Cities, Moreno has become a kind of deputy 0:03:52.160 --> 0:03:55.200 philosopher at city Hall as it endeavors to turn the 0:03:55.200 --> 0:03:58.240 French capital into what he calls a city of proximities. 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:02.960 His fifteen minute concept was developed primarily to reduce urban 0:04:03.000 --> 0:04:07.320 carbon emissions, reimagining our towns not as divided into discrete 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:11.160 zones for living, working, and entertainment, but as mosaics of 0:04:11.160 --> 0:04:14.520 neighborhoods in which almost all residents needs can be met 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:17.919 within fifteen minutes of their homes, on foot, by bike, 0:04:18.040 --> 0:04:21.920 or on public transit. As workplaces, stores, and homes are 0:04:21.960 --> 0:04:26.080 brought into closer proximity. Street space previously dedicated to cars 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:30.120 is freed up, eliminating pollution and making way for gardens, 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:33.719 bike lanes, and sports and leisure facilities. All of this 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:37.080 allows residents to bring their daily activities out of their homes, 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:40.920 which in Paris tend to be small, and into welcoming, 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:45.240 safe streets and squares. Similar ideas have been around for 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:49.680 a long time, including in Paris itself. Walkable neighborhoods and 0:04:49.760 --> 0:04:53.120 villages were the norm long before automobiles and zoning codes 0:04:53.200 --> 0:04:55.839 spread out and divided up cities in the twentieth century. 0:04:56.400 --> 0:04:59.600 Yet the fifteen minute city represents a major departure from 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:03.000 the recent past, and in a growing number of other cities, 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:06.760 it's become a powerful brand for planners and politicians desperate 0:05:06.800 --> 0:05:14.160 to sell residents on a carbon light existence. Leaders in Barcelona, Detroit, London, Melbourne, Milan, 0:05:14.279 --> 0:05:18.360 and Portland, Oregon are all working towards similar visions. They've 0:05:18.400 --> 0:05:22.479 been further emboldened by the pandemic, with global Mayor's touting 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:24.800 the model in a July report from the Sea Forty 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:29.240 Cities Climate Leadership Group as central to their recovery road maps. 0:05:30.040 --> 0:05:34.240 With climate change, COVID nineteen and political upheaval all challenging 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:37.919 the ideals of globalism, the hope is to refashion cities 0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:41.480 as places primarily for people to walk, bike, and linger 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:45.680 in rather than commute to. The fifteen minute city calls 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:48.760 for return to a more local and somewhat slower way 0:05:48.760 --> 0:05:52.279 of life, where commuting time is instead invested in richer 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:56.680 relationships with what's nearby. These crises show us the possibility 0:05:56.720 --> 0:06:00.599 for rediscovering proximity moreno, says Big, as we now have 0:06:00.720 --> 0:06:04.400 the possibility to stay closer to home, people have rediscovered 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:09.000 useful time, another pace for living. It's a utopian vision 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:12.400 in an era of deep social distress, but one that might, 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:16.760 if carried out piecemeal without an eye to equality, exacerbate 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:20.680 existing inequities. Skeptics also wonder whether a city that's no 0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:24.039 longer organized around getting to work is really a city 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:30.440 at all. Dreams of breaking down the segmented urban planning 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:34.240 that dominated the twentieth century, with industry on the outskirts, 0:06:34.360 --> 0:06:37.960 residential areas ringing the city, commerce in the core, and 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:43.279 auto networks connecting long distances, of course, aren't new. Urban 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:47.440 thinkers have been advocating for the preservation or return of walkable, 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:51.920 socially mixed neighborhoods at least since the publication of Jane 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:54.800 Jacobs p m to Manhattan's Kinwich Village in the Death 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:58.880 and Life of Great American Cities. This advocacy has slowly 0:06:58.920 --> 0:07:04.080 filtered into mainstream planning orthodoxy. Copenhagen pedestrianized its main shopping 0:07:04.080 --> 0:07:07.200 street in nineteen sixty two, the first of many densely 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:10.520 built European cities to take this approach in their downtown cores. 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:14.000 In the US, the so called new urbanism of the 0:07:14.080 --> 0:07:17.840 nineteen eighties and nineties created a planning template first fully 0:07:17.880 --> 0:07:21.360 realized in Seaside, Florida, that saw a preference for row 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:25.640 houses and departments over detached houses, as well as for walkable, 0:07:25.720 --> 0:07:29.120 tree lined streets and a careful dispersal of schools, stores, 0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:31.960 and parks to reduce the need to drive. Since the 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:35.120 turn of the millennium, rising concerns over air pollution and 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:38.680 climate change have led to further innovations, such as the 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:42.320 congestion charge London introduced in two thousand three for cars 0:07:42.400 --> 0:07:45.680 driving into the center, and massive expansions of public transit 0:07:45.720 --> 0:07:49.760 networks in cities from Moscow to Medain. The fifteen minute 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:53.040 city concept draws all these trends into an intuitive rubric 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:57.480 that ordinary residents can test against their own experiences. It's 0:07:57.520 --> 0:08:00.679 also served as a response to pressures wrought by property 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:04.320 speculation and rising tourism, which have pushed up rents and 0:08:04.440 --> 0:08:08.080 driven residents and businesses out of some long standing communities. 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:11.680 The fifteen minute City seeks to protect the vitality that 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:15.240 made diverse, locally oriented neighborhoods attractive in the first place. 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:18.360 Paris has been moving in this direction for some time, 0:08:19.040 --> 0:08:22.240 under the mayorship of the Socialist Parties Hidalgo, who was 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:26.000 first elected in March, the city introduced bands on the 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:30.280 most polluting motor vehicles, transformed busy roads flanking the Seine 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:33.400 into a linear park, and, in a bid to maintain 0:08:33.520 --> 0:08:37.480 socially mixed communities, expanded the city's network of public housing 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:41.840 into wealthier areas. It wasn't until twenty twenty, however, that 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:44.960 Hidalgo grouped these efforts together under the umbrella of the 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:48.320 fifteen Minute City, plucking the term from the academic realm 0:08:48.600 --> 0:08:52.840 and giving it new political urgency. During her re election campaign, 0:08:53.080 --> 0:08:56.920 she teamed with the concept's originator Moreno, a former robotics 0:08:56.960 --> 0:08:59.920 specialist who had realized that his primary interest was the 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:04.079 environment in which robots functioned. Hidalgo had already laid much 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:07.720 of the political groundwork for Moreno's blueprint in her first term. 0:09:07.760 --> 0:09:10.200 Now she could link all those bike paths and car 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:13.240 lane closures with a vision that matched the vibrancy and 0:09:13.280 --> 0:09:16.400 convenience of a metropolis with the ease and greenery of 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:20.559 a village. Since winning re election in June, she's doubled down, 0:09:20.960 --> 0:09:24.640 appointing a commissioner for the fifteen minute city, Karine Roland, 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:28.280 a Socialist Party counselor who had previously served in a 0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:32.680 culture oriented role in the eighteenth Arndissements. Roland also became 0:09:32.720 --> 0:09:36.760 Paris's culture commissioner. It's true that Paris is already a 0:09:36.760 --> 0:09:39.720 fifteen minute city to an extent, she says, but not 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:42.240 at the same level in all neighborhoods and not to 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:45.200 all sections of the public. There's much to be done 0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:48.560 in the working class districts on Paris's eastern edge and 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:52.400 in many quarters close to the Boulevard Periferic Beltway, for example. 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:57.280 In areas like these, social housing towers frequently predominate, and 0:09:57.320 --> 0:10:00.560 grocery stores and community facilities such as sport centers and 0:10:00.640 --> 0:10:05.040 clinics are sparse. This is particularly acute consequences for older 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:09.120 people and those with limited mobility. Roulan points out closer 0:10:09.160 --> 0:10:12.720 to Paris's heart, she says, are areas characterized by what 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:16.679 we call mono activity, a single commercial activity occupying a 0:10:16.720 --> 0:10:20.160 whole street. These are notably around the eastern section of 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:23.240 the city's inner ring of boulevards, which are dominated by 0:10:23.280 --> 0:10:26.560 offices and small shops, leaving streets that are lively on 0:10:26.600 --> 0:10:30.439 workdays to become quiet and uninviting on evenings and weekends. 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:35.959 Roland's job as fifteen minute City Commissioner entails coordinating related 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:40.640 efforts by different departments. In September, for example, ten Parisian 0:10:40.720 --> 0:10:44.920 school grounds reopened as green Oasis yards, bringing the total 0:10:45.000 --> 0:10:49.120 to forty one since the initiative began in Each has 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:52.720 been planted with trees and remodeled with soft rain absorbent 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:56.120 surfaces that will help battle the summer heat. The yards 0:10:56.120 --> 0:10:59.320 are left available after school for use as public gardens 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:03.520 or sports ounds, and they open onto revamped school streets 0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:07.000 where cars are banned or severely limited, and where trees 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:11.400 and benches have been added. Transformations like these, Rouland explains, 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:16.600 involved bringing together departments responsible for education, sports, roads and parks, 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:20.880 as well as local business and community organizations. Paris is 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:25.079 far from alone in attempting this sort of transformation. London's 0:11:25.120 --> 0:11:28.880 new Mini Hollands import Dutch planning ideas that seek to 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:33.520 reduce or block car access to neighborhood shopping hubs. Barcelona 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:36.160 has been turning four hundred by four hundred meter chunks 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:39.880 of road in areas dominated by apartment towers into mostly 0:11:39.960 --> 0:11:44.600 car free superblocks. Madrid has declared plans to copy that approach, 0:11:44.880 --> 0:11:46.760 in keeping with its goal to be a city of 0:11:46.800 --> 0:11:50.840 fifteen minutes as it recovers from the pandemic. Milan has 0:11:50.840 --> 0:11:53.560 said the same, with hopes to turn COVID bike lanes 0:11:53.600 --> 0:11:58.400 and sidewalks permanent as its economy restabilizes. But turning the 0:11:58.440 --> 0:12:01.880 fifteen minute city into a truly global movement will require 0:12:01.920 --> 0:12:05.520 a big battle over a core urban tension, the primacy 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:11.840 of the car. It's one thing to turn a Paris 0:12:11.920 --> 0:12:15.480 or a Barcelona, cities that were almost completely shaped before 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:20.400 the automobile was invented into a neighborhood centric utopia. Transforming 0:12:20.440 --> 0:12:24.120 them is rather like giving a supermodel a makeover. Challenge 0:12:24.120 --> 0:12:26.880 is far greater in the kinds of younger sprawling cities 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:30.120 found in North America or Australia, where cars remain the 0:12:30.200 --> 0:12:35.920 dominant form of transit. Some are trying since Melbourne has 0:12:35.920 --> 0:12:38.680 been working on a long term planning blueprint centered on 0:12:38.720 --> 0:12:42.280 the twenty minute neighborhood. But while the city's aspirations are 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:45.720 similar to paris Is, the issues involved in implementing them 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:49.280 could scarcely be more different, especially in areas beyond the 0:12:49.360 --> 0:12:53.840 already densifying core and inner suburbs. Some middle suburbs are 0:12:53.840 --> 0:12:57.959 well served by public transport and are starting to experience densification, 0:12:58.480 --> 0:13:01.680 but others aren't on the bandwag and, explains ros Hanson, 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:06.319 an urbanist who oversaw the preparation of Melbourne's blueprint. Meanwhile, 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:09.560 the outer suburbs are still at very low densities, partly 0:13:09.600 --> 0:13:13.679 because of poor public transport connections. The city has tried 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:17.280 to improve transportation and job options in the outer suburbs, 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:20.240 which are marked by single family homes. Some of the 0:13:20.280 --> 0:13:23.800 middle suburbs have hosted pilot projects where new mixed commercial 0:13:23.800 --> 0:13:27.640 residential developments are being encouraged and streets are being remodeled 0:13:27.640 --> 0:13:32.040 to increase cycling space and improve walkability, but to create 0:13:32.120 --> 0:13:36.240 and connect true twenty minute neighborhoods, Investment in public transit 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:39.520 will be key. De bureaucrats kept thinking, oh, this is 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:42.080 also about getting in your car for a twenty minute trip. 0:13:42.640 --> 0:13:45.319 But it's got nothing to do with the car, Hanson says. 0:13:45.960 --> 0:13:49.160 The twenty minute neighborhood is about active modes of transport 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:53.800 and increasing in area's catchment of accessibility. If you're walking, 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:57.320 one to two kilometers is your catchment. If you're cycling, 0:13:57.360 --> 0:14:00.080 it could be up to five to seven kilometers. With 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:03.439 public transport, it can be tend to fifteen kilometers. U 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:07.120 S cities holding similarly optimistic blueprints are also struggling to 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:11.400 strike a balance between vision and reality. In sixteen, Detroit 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:13.920 Mayor Mike Duggan laid out a plan to turn high 0:14:14.000 --> 0:14:17.760 density corridors outside the central business district in his sprawling 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:22.240 on forty square mile city into twenty minute neighborhoods. Its 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:25.400 leading edge thus far is a seventeen million dollar pedestrian 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:29.920 upgrade in the Livernoi McNichols area, nine miles northeast of downtown. 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:34.480 The project concluded in early with an emphasis on narrower 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:39.560 streets wider sidewalks for cafe seating, and new lighting. Residents 0:14:39.560 --> 0:14:42.360 and business owners have been largely pleased with the improvements. 0:14:42.720 --> 0:14:44.920 A walk to the supermarket is now a much more 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:48.960 pleasant ambition, but that basic urban function is out of 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:52.080 reach for the vast majority of the city. An estimated 0:14:52.160 --> 0:14:55.840 thirty thousand citizens lack access to a full service grocery store, 0:14:56.280 --> 0:15:00.000 according to a seventeen report by the Detroit Food Policy Council. 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:04.200 Katie Trudeau, the city's deputy director of Planning and Development, 0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:06.720 says it wasn't long ago that many people had to 0:15:06.720 --> 0:15:10.120 travel to the suburbs for shopping and other errands. That's 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:13.840 improved overall, and nine other districts have been targeted for 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:17.520 upgrades along the lines of the one in Libernois McNichols. Yet, 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:21.720 chronic fiscal problems and large swaths of blighted structures left 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:26.600 vacant as the city's population declined have made rapid transformation implausible. 0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:30.080 So far, most of Detroit's achievements under the twenty minute 0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:34.239 rubric have been modest, including moves toward a comprehensive transportation 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:39.400 plan and ongoing investments in lighting and resurfacing. Trudeau also 0:15:39.440 --> 0:15:42.440 points to a new fifty million dollar public private Affordable 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:45.880 Housing Fund, which seeks to help low income residents stay 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:50.200 in place as property values rise in redeveloping neighborhoods. These 0:15:50.240 --> 0:15:53.480 things might seem really basic in Paris, but here we've 0:15:53.480 --> 0:15:56.280 suffered so much in the form of population laws and 0:15:56.320 --> 0:15:59.840 financial uncertainty in the form of bankruptcy. She says. We 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:03.840 have to balance these concentrated strategies with citywide strategies that 0:16:03.920 --> 0:16:07.240 help everyone with their quality of life. The twenty minute 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:10.560 label has served mainly as useful shorthand to communicate the 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:14.920 city's goals with residents and investors. Trudeau hopes initiatives such 0:16:14.920 --> 0:16:17.520 as the Housing Fund will ensure that it includes a 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:21.720 diverse cross section of the population. Detroit's plans were partly 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:25.400 inspired by Portland, Oregon, which is celebrated in urbanist circles 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:28.720 as a model of US city planning. Portland has the 0:16:28.800 --> 0:16:32.000 highest rate of bike commuting of any major American metro, 0:16:32.560 --> 0:16:35.040 a tight boundary that defines how much it can sprawl, 0:16:35.600 --> 0:16:39.200 and forward thinking policies aimed at spurring dense, lower cost 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:43.560 housing production. We're often mixed up with Paris, jokes Chris Warner, 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:49.320 director of the Portland Bureau of transportation PBOT. Yet even there, 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:52.080 it will take years to achieve the level of compactness 0:16:52.200 --> 0:16:55.840 that makes for a complete neighborhood, as the city's plan 0:16:55.920 --> 0:16:59.720 phrased its goal. About three quarters of Portland's residential land 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:03.480 is occupied primarily by single family homes, and more than 0:17:03.520 --> 0:17:07.320 half of its population commutes by car. A recent Brookings 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:11.000 Institution report that studied local travel behaviors found that among 0:17:11.160 --> 0:17:14.920 six US metropolitan areas, Portland had the shortest average trip 0:17:15.000 --> 0:17:18.840 distance for people traveling to work, shopping, and errands, but 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:22.480 that distance was still six point two miles, hardly a 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:25.719 fifteen minute walk or bike ride to the dentist or laundromat. 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:29.520 To combat this, p VOT is spending most of its 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:33.240 one fifty million dollar capital improvement budget on bike and 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:38.960 walking infrastructure inside complete neighborhoods and on transit to connect them. 0:17:39.119 --> 0:17:43.080 Eight Thomer, a fellow at Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program and 0:17:43.240 --> 0:17:46.399 co author of the report, says the fifteen minute concept 0:17:46.520 --> 0:17:49.960 falls flat in America because people in the US already 0:17:49.960 --> 0:17:52.640 live in a fifteen minute city. It's just that they're 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:56.560 covering vast distances in a car. Planners concerned with urban 0:17:56.600 --> 0:18:00.359 livability and rising carbon emissions might do well to focus 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:04.199 on distance rather than time, he says. He suggests that 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:08.640 the three mile city might resonate better. However, the concept 0:18:08.760 --> 0:18:12.320 is cast art. Pierce P. Bot S, manager of Policy, 0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:16.440 Planning and Projects, sees signs that Portlanders are keeping their 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:18.959 travel closer to home as the pandemic changes the way 0:18:19.000 --> 0:18:22.199 they relate to their surroundings. We're seeing a lot of 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:25.200 people adjusting their behaviors to focus more on their communities. 0:18:25.240 --> 0:18:28.959 He says. That produces an opportunity to strengthen those ties 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:35.720 as people return to a more normal life. One thing 0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:38.560 would be fifteen minutes cities. Everywhere we'll have to reckon 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:42.360 with is social equity and affordable housing. In particular, as 0:18:42.400 --> 0:18:46.720 Detroit's Trudeau points out, many neighborhood services rely on lower 0:18:46.720 --> 0:18:50.400 income workers who often make long commutes, and a fifteen 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:53.200 minute city isn't really one if only the well off 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:56.600 can stay put. To that end, Paris aspires to have 0:18:56.720 --> 0:18:59.200 thirty percent of its housing stock in the public domain 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:03.640 by and it's been increasing the share even in richer districts, 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:07.880 despite resistance from well healed neighbors. It is completely part 0:19:07.960 --> 0:19:11.600 of an Hidalgo's program to resist real estate pressure, to 0:19:11.680 --> 0:19:15.119 maintain public housing and to diversify the housing offered for 0:19:15.119 --> 0:19:18.800 the middle class. Says Roland, the Fifteen Minute City commissioner. 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:23.800 Such measures can, to a degree counterbalance Paris's trends towards 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:27.720 high rents and social polarization, but in a city where 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:31.480 property prices rose even during the pandemic, they're unlikely to 0:19:31.520 --> 0:19:35.120 prevail completely, and other goals of the fifteen Minute City, 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:39.040 such as greening and pedestrianizing the heart of Paris, risk 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:43.800 alienating lower income suburban commuters. This accusation was leveled against 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:47.919 Hidalgo's administration in sixteen after it introduced changes to the 0:19:47.960 --> 0:19:51.840 Sens Lower Quayside that eliminated a key route for car commuters. 0:19:52.720 --> 0:19:56.400 Valerie Pecres, president of the Regional Council for El de France, 0:19:56.680 --> 0:20:00.560 which encompasses Paris's suburbs, accused Hidalgo of acting in an 0:20:00.560 --> 0:20:04.800 egotistical manner by pushing through road closures, noting that some 0:20:04.840 --> 0:20:07.600 people don't have any solution other than driving into Paris 0:20:07.640 --> 0:20:10.240 for work because they don't have the means to live there. 0:20:10.920 --> 0:20:14.720 Others have pointed out a related concern that by prioritizing 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:19.640 local infrastructure, governments will overlook badly needed regional investments, such 0:20:19.640 --> 0:20:24.520 as in transit systems serving long distance commuters. Moreno recognizes 0:20:24.560 --> 0:20:27.359 that large segments of the population might never enjoy the 0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:31.280 slower paced localized life he envisions. Of course, we need 0:20:31.320 --> 0:20:34.919 to adapt this concept for different realities. He says not 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:38.359 all people have the possibility of having jobs within fifteen minutes, 0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:43.160 but he emphasizes that many people's circumstances could be profoundly changed, 0:20:43.680 --> 0:20:46.560 something he believes we're already seeing because of the pandemics 0:20:46.600 --> 0:20:50.879 canceled commutes. In his view, centralized corporate offices are a 0:20:50.920 --> 0:20:54.919 thing of the past, telework and constellations of coworking hubs 0:20:55.000 --> 0:20:58.439 or the future. The fifteen minutes city could also be 0:20:58.480 --> 0:21:01.320 seen as what writer den Ill identified as a form 0:21:01.359 --> 0:21:04.879 of post traumatic urbanism, a way to recover from the 0:21:04.920 --> 0:21:08.800 onslaughts of such things as property speculation, over tourism, and 0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:12.679 now the pandemic. Already it's become clear. In Paris, Roulan 0:21:12.840 --> 0:21:15.960 says that the city needs a more localized medical network 0:21:16.240 --> 0:21:18.000 so people don't feel they have to go straight to 0:21:18.040 --> 0:21:22.760 the emergency room following the unending traumas of there's an 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:26.560 appealing nostalgia to a renewed emphasis on neighborhoods, even if 0:21:26.600 --> 0:21:30.480 it addresses only some of the city's modern challenges. This, too, 0:21:30.640 --> 0:21:35.120 Merino acknowledges, pointing yet again to his ideas recuperative possibilities. 0:21:35.160 --> 0:21:38.960 Above all, the fifteen Minute City is a journey, a guideline, 0:21:39.359 --> 0:21:42.400 a possibility for transforming the paradigm for how we live 0:21:42.480 --> 0:21:46.200 over the next many decades. He says, before people were 0:21:46.240 --> 0:21:50.160 losing useful time with the fifteen minute City, we want 0:21:50.200 --> 0:21:53.040 them to regain it. And that's Plumberg Business Week reporting 0:21:53.040 --> 0:21:55.760 in its special New Economy issue. You can check out 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:57.960 more just go online at Bloomberg dot com and of 0:21:58.000 --> 0:22:01.240 course always on the Bloomberg terminal. I'm Carol Masser. 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