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Notes -
The concept of '15-minute cities' came up a few weeks ago, but since then it appears to have piggybacked off a local dispute in Oxford to become the locus of the latest so-called 'far-right conspiracy theory'. The proposed measure certainly codes as dystopian to me on this side of the pond, even as someone who is generally supportive of new urbanist ideas, but I can't speak to how it plays in Europe.
I've often felt that the culture war battle lines on these urban planning issues have not been as clearly drawn as those on gender, immigration, or abortion, mostly due to a lack of attention, but that time appears to be coming to an end. Though seeing as we already can't build anything, I suppose it isn't much of a loss.
Sooner or later, the right will (hopefully) come to understand a few hard-hitting things:
NIMBY:ism is not only good but morally necessary to create and sustain worthwhile communities. Not just their character but also their architectural beauty and natural endowments (e.g. parks, tree-lined pathways).
Regulation is an unavoidable fact in order to bring all of this about. The neoliberal rage against regulation will only lead to poorly built cardboard boxes mashed together into historic neighbourhoods, crammed with people of dubious moral character (as this would be "affordable housing" that YIMBYists love to praise).
Getting rid of most cars in inner cities would also be a good start and many European cities are moving in this direction. Some faster (Oslo) and some slower (Paris) but it's slowly coming together.
That all said, if someone truly thinks that car-centric sprawl suburbia is the peak of human existence, then all the more power to you. I just don't think many on the right are actually on board with that once they take time to think. The issue is that many have neoliberal priors that prevents them from going to the logical conclusion. Housing policy is difficult because there isn't a clear-cut left vs right divide and most folks prefer to stay in tribes where thinking independently is discouraged and you can just follow the herd.
And how many of you tried taking home a new wardrobe on the bus? But that's different, delivery vans are necessary, so you can walk/bike your 15 minutes and the rest of the things you want for a decent standard of living will be produced, stored, and delivered to you by someone else's vehicles.
The idea of "I only need to bring what I can carry in a backpack or my two hands as I walk round the city centre where everything I want is conveniently located" is a nice one, but only works in certain instances. Six million people can't all live in the city centre 15 minutes from where they work, shop, and entertain themselves, that's why cities spread out. Somebody will be on the outer fringe, a lot more than 15 minutes from the fun, happening, hip cultural centre. That's even before getting out to suburbs.
I mean, East Asian megalopolises somehow make do, even if they sprawl so much that not literally everywhere is 15 minutes from work and entertainment. Someone in Shinagawa district would be close to Oosaki, Meguro and Gotanda, even if traveling to e.g. Ginza would take a while more; and even living in the commuter cities nearby like Yokohama you get a density of things that isn’t really quite replicated in the anglosphere, especially in the US. Hong Kong has essentially all of the population within a 15 minute’s walk to the closest schools, shops, workplaces, etc., though admittedly that is an extreme and wouldn’t work for people who don’t like apartments. It’s not a matter of “can’t”, I think.
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