Debate on 15 minute cities on Radio 4 now.

[Mike Sales]

As title, 12:04 17.2.23

[simonineaston]

Can someone brighter than me tell me what "a 15 minute city" is - in one concise sentance, please?

[Tiberius]

Can someone brighter than me tell me what "a 15 minute city" is - in one concise sentance, please?

I wondered the same - First hit on Google produced this......


What is 15-minute city concept?
The concept of “15-minute cities” has conspiracy theorists—especially those on TikTok—concerned about confinement. The basis of the urban design is that all everyday living necessities are within a 15-minute walking or biking route. Conspiracy theorists believe the concept aims to restrict residents to specific zones.

[Jdsk]

The 15-minute city is a residential urban concept in which most daily necessities and services, such as work, shopping, education, health, and leisure, should be located within an easily reachable 15-minute walk or bike ride from any point in the city.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/15-minute_city

Jonathan

[Nearholmer]

I live in one, and it definitely isn’t a prison, just a place where it’s easy to get everywhere by bike.

Mad people do come up with some mad theories.

[Jdsk]

As title, 12:04 17.2.23

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001j4j5

Jonathan

[Mike Sales]

I find that more and more shops in town have moved out to sheds on the perimeter. This is to make it easier to drive to them, but reaching them by bus or foot is difficult. Now that I cannot walk far, let alone cycle, it is difficult to find lots of the things I need. My local town is becoming a "doughnut city".
I am lucky that the food shops in my village are within my range.

[Cugel]

It'll be interesting to hear if the Radio 4 programme was a sensible discussion of the subject or yet another opportunity for the BBC to allow swivel-eyed loons and far right conspiracy barmpots to spout claptrap with the justification that this gives a "balanced" set of POVs.

Personally I long ago gave up viewing or listening to such BBC current affairs stuff as it seems highly polluted with nonsense of the most barking kind - a trend that seemed to come to a head with the whole Brexit mass media farce and some sort of government-induced aping of USA "politics", especially that of the repuglicans, consisting of large and outrageous lies a la Bokum & chums with elements of Faragy-Breitbarty paranoid ranting.

Has the BBC not got rid of that Bokum claptrap puppet he inserted in there yet? That Reith bloke'll be turning in his coffin!

Cugel

[toontra]

It'll be interesting to hear if the Radio 4 programme was a sensible discussion of the subject or yet another opportunity for the BBC to allow swivel-eyed loons and far right conspiracy barmpots to spout claptrap with the justification that this gives a "balanced" set of POVs.

From what I heard (could only stand to listen to the first 5 minutes), exactly that.

Mainline media by and large stopped giving airtime to climate deniers some while ago, but feel happy to give the anti-LNT/FMC brigade free rein to spout their nonsense. It's now clear there is an orchestrated campaign by nutters who (ironically) have been brainwashed by online conspiracy theories into believing there is a global conspiracy to steal their democracy.

[Jdsk]

Thanks for the heads-up.

IMO BBC radio news has made serious mistakes in its coverage of the UK's membership of the EU and of climate change, with a common factor being false balance. But throughout has produced exemplary documentaries and explainers and done some excellent and much-needed fact checking.

And I've lived in or near Oxford since 1970 and often travel through the affected areas.

This programme is one of a series about how issues are discussed in public and why polarised arguments develop, and happened to be about "15 minute cities".

I recommend listening to the whole thing.

Jonathan

[Mick F]

I heard the prog, and it was the first time I had ever known about the idea.

Utopian/Orwellian idea IMHO.

It's ok for the young and fit, but rubbish for the old and unfit.
Also busses chuck out more muck than cars, and not everyone lives near a bus route.

[Nearholmer]

Buses in cities these days can happily run using battery or fuel-cell storage, and in the most enlightened places they run from overhead wires (trolley buses), sometimes even on rails (trams).

The whole point of the concept is that there is a certain “sweet spot” in terms of density of habitation, at which things can be very convenient, very pleasant in terms of quality of environment, and decently sustainable.

The sort of place that is worst for the old and unfit is deep rural-shire, because it is economically unsustainable and environmentally highly questionable to provide a bus service, and things are too spread out to make walking or cycling a viable option for most needs above the very basic, so people rely on driving cars for miles to get to larger shops, hospitals, secondary schools etc etc.

As I said, I live in a place designed partly around the 15 minute idea, Milton Keynes, and to some degree the density involved works very well indeed. Not wholly well, because the other basis of design at the time (1960/70s) was car usage, rather than public transport, to get to the “not within fifteen minutes” bits, but it is dead easy to see how it would work with decent public transport, if a magic wand was waved to convert the main roads to tram or trolley bus arteries for instance.

[Jdsk]

Buses in cities these days can happily run using battery or fuel-cell storage, and in the most enlightened places they run from overhead wires (trolley buses), sometimes me even on rails (trams).
...

Oxford will have some battery-only buses from September. There's funding for 159.
https://news.oxfordshire.gov.uk/deal-si ... fordshire/

Jonathan

[Cugel]

It'll be interesting to hear if the Radio 4 programme was a sensible discussion of the subject or yet another opportunity for the BBC to allow swivel-eyed loons and far right conspiracy barmpots to spout claptrap with the justification that this gives a "balanced" set of POVs.

From what I heard (could only stand to listen to the first 5 minutes), exactly that.

Mainline media by and large stopped giving airtime to climate deniers some while ago, but feel happy to give the anti-LNT/FMC brigade free rein to spout their nonsense. It's now clear there is an orchestrated campaign by nutters who (ironically) have been brainwashed by online conspiracy theories into believing there is a global conspiracy to steal their democracy.

Wot democracy?

Cugel, just a subject and a serf.

[Cugel]

I heard the prog, and it was the first time I had ever known about the idea.

Utopian/Orwellian idea IMHO.

It's ok for the young and fit, but rubbish for the old and unfit.
Also busses chuck out more muck than cars, and not everyone lives near a bus route.

I don't think you do trolling, Mick, so you must be, er, "serious" in this opinion. Oh dear.

Cugel