Global study shares list on best and worst ‘15-minute cities’ as experts weigh in
Being able to get to work, the shops, schools, health care, work and parks on bicycle, public transport or on foot within 15 minutes is the dream life — but new research shows Australian cities are falling behind making the “15-minute” city a reality.
A new international study has explored which cities across the world could be considered 15-minute cities.
The 15-minute city is an urban planning concept that has developed over the past five years as a way of combating urban sprawl and diminishing quality of life among city residents, as well as tackling emissions.
But in a new study published by Nature Cities, a Sony Computer Science Laboratories research team in Italy looked at 10,000 cities from around the world to examine how close they were to the standard, and the results were mixed.
Cities such as Geneva, Paris and Berlin all fell within the ideal times, as shown in this interactive world map.
Unsurprisingly, it found inner cities were the more likely to have good access to services than outer, or fringe, suburbs.
“Our analysis consistently highlights patterns where city centres have better access to services than peripheral areas,” the study said.
No Australian cities made the 15-minute cut, however, Hobart came close at 16 minutes, with Brisbane falling at the other end of the list as the worst timed city at 25 minutes.
Hobart — 16 minutesMelbourne — 17 minutesCanberra — 17 minutesSydney — 19 minutesAdelaide — 19 minutesDarwin — 22 minutesPerth — 24 minutesBrisbane — 25 minutesCamera IconBrisbane came last out of the Australian cities listed in the study. Credit: Nature Cities
“For Australian cities, they tend to be more diffused, (where) European cities, for example, are more dense and compact,” Dr Alan Both from the Australian Urban Observatory told 7NEWS.com.au.
“We have cities with sprawling suburbs on the outside, and we don’t have the density of people there.”
Population density and the number and frequency of services available to us are the main contributing factors to a 15-minute city, he said.
“The average person is about 500m from public transport locations, on paper we’re doing quite well, but if they restrict the measure to frequent transport then we’re doing quite poorly.”
Camera IconOver 10,000 cities were researched for the study. Credit: Nature Cities
Both said long wait times and infrequent services were more likely to force people to drive instead of taking public transport, with newer suburbs generally the most poorly served.
“One of the last things to go in is public transport, so you can be waiting five or 10 years before you get a bus in a new subdivision,” he said.
The Nature Cities study said “substantial variations” existed among cities, mainly based on how car-centric and suburban the urban planning style was.
How can we get closer to a 15-minute city?
Both said the most straightforward way to improve connection and accessibility in Australian cities was to start picking the right spots for transport development.
“Pick the route where more people live and make sure they’re frequent enough for people to use them — that’s where we’d see the most uptake in usage,” he said.
“We see people are willing to take public transport if it’s convenient.”
A change in policy focusing on increasing services in outer suburbs is also an option for Australian cities, according to experts, which has been proven to work in other cities around the world.
“Notable exceptions exist, such as Paris or Barcelona, whose recent policies on increasing local access to services are well known,” the study said.
“These cities exhibit a more evenly distributed accessibility, transcending the typical centre–periphery divide.”
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