Is there a global conspiracy to confine people to “15-minute cities”? At the recent UK local elections, MPs and councillors heard this message from voters. The commitment of a growing number of cities such as Bristol, Ipswich, London, Birmingham and Oxford to limit car usage in particular districts and neighbourhoods has been seized upon by the paranoid as further evidence of a “Great Reset” directed by the economic elites of Davos that uses climate change as an excuse for social regimentation. In parliament the Conservative MP Nick Fletcher denounced the 15-minute city as an “international socialist concept”.
It may not be international socialism, but the concept has been embraced by many on the centre-left, including the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, comprised of nearly a hundred city governments around the world: “In a ‘15-minute city’, everyone is able to meet most, if not all, of their needs within a short walk or bike ride from their home.”
Content from our partners
