AET Transport and Mobility Forum

Upcoming Events

The 15 Minute City - Putting Accessibility by Proximity into Practice

A joint webinar with the Journal of Urban Mobility

Thursday 23rd June 2022
11.00 - 12:30 CEST (10.00 - 11:30 BST/WEST)

Upcoming webinars are free and open to both the general public and AET members.

The webinar will be hosted on the WebEx platform. Pre-registered participants will receive additional information the day before the webinar containing instructions on how to use WebEx and a calendar item with the link. Please note that there is no deadline for signing up. Last minute registrants can access the webinar via the registration link.

Webinar Overview

The AET Transport and Mobility Forum and the Journal of Urban Mobility are jointly hosting this webinar to explore 15 Minute City. The Journal’s Co-Editor-in-Chief, Dr Benjamin Büttner will moderate a discussion about concept of the 15 Minute City with speakers Cecilia Silva, Chris Kwantes and Margherita Villani.

The ongoing COVID pandemic, the negative effects of private motorized transport, and the advancing climate crisis have led to a steady increase in interest in active mobility and accessibility through spatial proximity in recent years. Especially, the concepts of the “15-Minute City” and the “20-Minute Neighbourhoods” have been promoted as blueprints for future urban planning. They promise to deliver more sustainable, liveable, resilient, and equitable cities by creating dense and diverse neighbourhoods with destinations in proximity to peoples’ homes. These concepts thus tie in with themes that have long been discussed in the literature on accessibility and urban planning. However, questions remain on how the X-Minute City concept can be operationalised and assessed, how the concept relates to physical, perceived and virtual accessibilities, how the concept affects different groups of residents, including vulnerable population groups, how the concept translates to different types of areas, and how the concept articulates with urban agglomeration scale policies. Furthermore, there are questions on how X-Minute City planning goals can be achieved in practice, and the inclusion of virtual accessibility to jobs and services (teleworking, online shopping etc.). The webinar will try to find answers to these questions and seeks to bridge the gap between planning practice and the accessibility literature.

One of the most prominent ideas that rose to prominence during the pandemic is the 15-Minute City. The 15-Minute City has been famously championed by the City of Paris and the Parisian mayor Anne Hidalgo, who made it the foundation of her transport- and land-use planning policies. For example, Hidalgo plans to get rid of half of Paris’ surface parking spaces to make space for active transport modes and public space (Marchant, 2020). The main idea behind the 15-Minute City is the reduction of car traffic by simply eliminating the need for it. If people can reach the most important everyday destinations in a short time on foot or by bicycle, the logic goes, they will ditch the car of their own accord. This shall lead to more sustainable, resilient, and livable cities.

This webinar from the AET Transport and Mobility Forum and the Journal of Urban Mobility will explore the practical challenges of implementing these ideas by bringing together perspectives from experienced practitioners in Italy and the Netherlands and from the latest academic research in Europe. It will consider the opportunities and challenges posed and investigate the choices which need to be made in balancing technological progress with broader public value and social equity. 

The webinar will be introduced by Dr Benjamin Büttner of Technische Universität München who will set the scene for how the debate on urban planning has been evolving in recent years. This will be followed by three speakers and presentations as follows:

• Dr Cecília Silva – University of Porto (PT)
• Chris Kwantes – Mobility Planner, Goudappel Coffeng Consultants (NL)
• Margherita Villani – Transport and Mobility Engineer, NET Engineering SpA (IT)

The topic will also be the subject of a forthcoming special issue of the Journal and will be an important theme at the European Transport Conference (ETC) being held in Milan in September this year.

About the Journal of Urban Mobility

The Journal of Urban Mobility is a fully open access journal, initiated and supported by the EIT Urban Mobility, offering prompt publication and wide dissemination of new urban mobility research to a global audience. The journal publishes peer-reviewed contributions in all areas of urban mobility that will accelerate solutions that improve our collective use of livable urban spaces, while ensuring accessible, convenient, safe, efficient, sustainable and affordable multimodal mobility. The journal is unique in that it takes a systemic approach to urban mobility and encourages multi- or cross-disciplinary triple-helix publications, bringing together academics and practitioners, businesses (industry and small-and-medium-sized companies) and cities.

About Elsevier

Elsevier’s 30 transportation journals include many of the most highly ranked titles in the field and publish around 4,000 articles a year. These are supported by an active program of transportation books and the new International Encyclopedia of Transportation.  Elsevier is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. 

Future Webinars