Have you heard of the 15-minute city? The mainstream says it is just good urban planning, done for our own good. Some people think that 15-minute cities are open air prisons.

Here’s the opinion from the pro camp. Note that if you don’t agree with them, then you are a conspiracy theorist with outlandish beliefs like the existence of lizard people, and that the Covid-19 vaccines are bad:

ABC News Australia

There are two very different views of the “15-minute city” idea.

To some, it’s an urban planning concept that promotes sustainable and healthy living.

To a small group of others, it’s a plot by “tyrannical bureaucrats” to take our cars and control our lives, which could lead to a real-life Hunger Games scenario.

After outlandish claims about lizard people, 5G and COVID-19 vaccines, conspiracy theorists are now targeting the world of urban planning, with protests against the 15-minute city concept springing up around the globe.

[. . .]

The 15-minute city is an urban planning concept where neighbourhoods provide residents with the basic things they need — shops, schools, parks, leisure options, health care — within a 15-minute radius by foot or bike.

Now the real purpose:

From mid-last century, cities have largely been planned around cars, at the expense of walking and biking, which has often resulted in car dependency and urban sprawl.

The 15-minute city is presented as one possible remedy for this.

“There are so many public interest reasons to want to do this. It’s kind of a no-brainer,” Toderian says.

“Your carbon footprint is a lot lower, so it’s a powerful climate change mitigation tool … It promotes urban health and thus promotes the actual reduction of public health costs … It promotes individual affordability and household affordability because you don’t need to own the second car or maybe even the third car.”

Some other thoughts:

Slicing cities up into smaller segments could encourage less mixing between different neighborhoods, and exacerbate existing segregation along lines such as race or class.

There is a lack of focus on accessibility, and the needs of people who can’t walk or cycle everywhere they need to be.

The idea is to get rid of personal cars. What if I need to bring home a large package or multiple bags of groceries? How will they fit on my “bike”?

What if I work outside of my “neighborhood”?

You see, the objective is not just to make it easier to live without a car, but to LIMIT car usage in certain towns/neighborhoods. Like they are trying to do in the UK. It will happen here too. That’s a prediction.

Hot Air

They want to do this so nobody will have cars. And if you want to travel further than that, you’ll need to take public transportation. There is a push on in the UK right now and conservatives (along with most sane people) are having none of it. But you can rest assured it will be pushed increasingly in the United States going forward. (New Statesman)

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”.