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Urban Transition and the Return of Neighbourhood Planning. Questioning the Proximity Syndrome and the 15-Minute City

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  • Elena Marchigiani

    (Department of Engineering and Architecture, University of Trieste, Via Alfonso Valerio 6/1, 34127 Trieste, Italy)

  • Bertrando Bonfantini

    (Department of Architecture and Urban Studies, Politecnico di Milano, Via Bonardi 3, 20133 Milano, Italy)

Abstract

European policies acknowledge cities’ major roles in building greener and just urban habitats. When rethinking cities’ spatial organisation, the call is for creating better liveability conditions at the level closest to citizens. In this frame, research into the impacts of COVID-19 has led to a revival of neighbourhood planning and the 15-Minute City has been proposed as a successful model for cities’ recoveries in the name of regained proximity to collective facilities. This article questions the long-lasting neighbourhood image that the 15-Minute City refers to, by exploring recent experiences that renewed its application. We begin with a literature review, and then develop an evidence-based approach to a deeper analysis of policy design and implementation focusing on the Italian city of Milano. Discussion and conclusions highlight critical issues and potentials of the 15-Minute City. If the threat is that of a simplified and rhetorical use of this idea, its ability to gather plural actions under an appealing flagship can be a powerful driver for urban regeneration policies. However, being more than just a reproducible spatial model, the 15-Minute City needs to be handled as a complex planning device, whose effective implementation depends on the specific characteristics of the urban environments it applies to and on the strong intertwining of different policy fields and tools.

Suggested Citation

  • Elena Marchigiani & Bertrando Bonfantini, 2022. "Urban Transition and the Return of Neighbourhood Planning. Questioning the Proximity Syndrome and the 15-Minute City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-29, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:9:p:5468-:d:807470
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Rosalba D’Onofrio & Elio Trusiani, 2022. "The Future of the City in the Name of Proximity: A New Perspective for the Urban Regeneration of Council Housing Suburbs in Italy after the Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-26, January.
    2. Georgia Pozoukidou & Zoi Chatziyiannaki, 2021. "15-Minute City: Decomposing the New Urban Planning Eutopia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-25, January.
    3. Carlo Pisano, 2020. "Strategies for Post-COVID Cities: An Insight to Paris En Commun and Milano 2020," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-16, July.
    4. Maryam Fayyaz & Esther González-González & Soledad Nogués, 2022. "Autonomous Mobility: A Potential Opportunity to Reclaim Public Spaces for People," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(3), pages 1-16, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Poorthuis, Ate & Zook, Matthew, 2023. "Moving the 15-minute city beyond the urban core: The role of accessibility and public transport in the Netherlands," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    2. Sdoukopoulos, Alexandros & Papadopoulos, Efthymis & Verani, Eleni & Politis, Ioannis, 2024. "Putting theory into practice: A novel methodological framework for assessing cities' compliance with the 15-min city concept," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    3. Giada Casarin & Julie MacLeavy & David Manley, 2023. "Rethinking urban utopianism: The fallacy of social mix in the 15-minute city," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 60(16), pages 3167-3186, December.

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