The 15-minute city — no cars required — is urban planning’s new utopia

Cities are attempting to give residents everything they need within a few minutes of their front doors. In Bloomberg Businessweek, Feargus O'Sullivan and Laura Bliss examine some of the new ‘urban planning utopias’ that have become an influential brand for planners and politicians wanting to win their citizens approval on an environmentally-friendly existence. The disastrous year of 2020 renews the nostalgic appeal of neighbourhoods, even if it only solves a portion of a city’s modern challenges. "One thing would-be 15-minute cities everywhere will have to reckon with is social equity — and affordable housing in particular, as Detroit’s Trudeau points out. Many neighborhood services rely on lower-income workers who often make long commutes, and a 15-minute city isn’t really one if only the well-off can stay put."