Why has the ‘15-minute city’ taken off in Paris but become a toxic idea in UK?
Why has the ‘15-minute city’ taken off in Paris but become a toxic idea in UK?
Urbanist Carlos Moreno on how his concept is transforming French life and what is hindering change across the Channel
Because Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister of UK describes 15-minute cities as an attack on Motorists and vows to abolish such things.
It's amazing how some sociopaths destroy everything if some money is thrown their way.
Maybe the American propaganda pushers don't make French language versions
For real. The amount of utter nonsense I see on Facebook about it being a Chinese conspiracy to prevent us going anywhere, when all it means is you should be able to, heaven forbid, walk to the shops.
This is true for Québec to a lesser extent too
Russian propaganda pushers pretending to be American, you mean
Russia's main export is making other countries shittier in an attempt to make them seem better by comparison.
I don't doubt that there is a Russian element to the right wing conspiracy nutjobs. But there is a huge home-grown 100% American component to it too, if there wasnt there'd be nothing for the Russian to work with.
I forgot all those walkable cities in the US
Russia did push a lot of propaganda and they probably still do, but France clamps down on it from time to time.
Members of the extreme right also follow each other online, so it's not really possible to tell if a french translation of a replacement theory conspiracy meme was made by a Russian at the IRA, or by a genuine french incel.
Putin's trolls also support the far right party of Le Pen and that party repays this support by voicing their support for Putin from time to time, similar to other extreme left/right parties in Europe. Getting Le Pen elected in France would be almost as big a coup for Putin as a re-election of Trump in the Usa: it would damage the eu, NATO, give Wagner free reign over the Sahel and stop french support for Ukraine. And unlike Trump, Le Pen is not an idiot, so she would be able to do a lot more damage in a lot less time. This all makes France a prime target for the Russian propaganda machine.
What France doesn't have (yet), is a popular domestic far right media empire. There is a conservative family building up a similar misinformation empire as that of Murdoch, but they're only getting started, so it's nothing like in the UK or USA (yet): https://www.france24.com/en/france/20230711-france-s-murdoch-right-wing-media-swoop-threatens-pillar-of-french-democracy
This specific idea seems to be a mix of climate change denialism (they want us to stop driving) mixed with COVID time authoritarian scares (forced internment, stay at home etc) and while we know Russia has helped push parts of these ideas before or pushed this after I think this one really did originally come direct from the right wing American billionaire owned think tanks.
This specific idea caught on for some reason but they've been chucking out variations on this crap for years
Conspiracy theorists and the reputation the UK government has for corruption.
Same in germany and add propaganda/corruption from the car industry.
The UK imports it's republican talking points from the US. Rupert Murdoch being involved in both newspaper markets is probably a big reason
Conservative propaganda is the reason... Next question
Because Paris is its own jurisdiction.
Paris' mayor, Anne Hidalgo, is incredibly unpopular in the rest of the Parisian Metropolitan Area (whose government is right-wing under Valérie Pécresse). Much of these areas are still car-dependent beyond belief with bad-to-awful public transit, meaning they are progressively getting cut-off from car-hostile Paris. Paris is completely unaffordable to live in, so it is normal for the working class to have a 1h+ commute into Paris.
This understandably breeds resentment from most people who have never heard of the term "induced demand" or think that the lack of rail transit it Hidalgo's fault.
Paris is completely unaffordable to live in
Except for 25% of the accomodation which is sponsored by some public organization.
Paris is completely unaffordable to live in
Affordability is a really important part that is not talked about enough. Walkable cities are better for people and the environment but they need to be affordable for it to matter.
Walkability generally means higher density and higher density means lower cost. The only reason why walkable places are generally less affordable right now is that they are scarce. If everywhere was walkable that wouldn't be a problem.
Interestingly the public transit in paris and its metropolitan area is entirely under the authority of the "region", that is to say Pécresse.
There are massive investments in infrastructure throughout the area though. With metro lines being created and prolongated all over the place at huge expanse. Obviously this doesn't happen overnight.
This is not just Paris too. France as a whole did not change municipality boundaries since WW2. So usually legal city is just what in the rest of Europe we would be the city center. You often can not really tell the difference between the city and a French "suburb" on a satellite picture.
As a result it is rather easy to kick cars out of the city, as the residents do not need them and are just annoying for them. It also leads to bad connections to the outer parts of what really is the city, which pisses off the residents and that leads them to vote facist.
Never forget that the UK went trumpian first.
the UK
What, did nobody ever hear of Italy?
Even sticking to the 21st century, Berlusconi was the prototype for Trump, Johnson, Bolsonaro and the rest.
Right-wing nutjobs. The idea oozed out of russia, was picked up by the Brexit/Cambridge Analytica cabal/MAGA fascists/Qanon cultists and that's where it comes from.
It was not ever based in any fact, reasoning, ideal, or true belief.
It’s not “a toxic idea in the UK”. Fuck the fucking shitrag guardian. Paris is a city, the UK is a country (or 4 countries if you prefer) - so we could by comparing similar entities?
There is some political theatre around a tiny minority of swivel eyed loonies in London . That’s it .
One country and four occupied territories.
Sometimes NI doesn’t even appear on the miniature versions of maps 😬
I would also point out that Paris is the capital city. London pretty much already has the 15-minute city ideal. The tube network is world-leading in its technology and just how dense the network is.
I always reserve around 1h to go anywhere by tube. For places closer to me, 30-40min will do. Between walking to and from the stations, plus train wait times and walking between platforms for a change, the 15min idea is dead on arrival. Not to mention that this hour is filled with air, noise and visual pollution.
That said, I do have a small Saino’s about 10min from me, and a big Tesco 15-20min depending on how tired I am. If that counts as a 15min city, then you’re spot on.
For sure, it's not perfect. But compared to the rest of the UK, you lot are pretty well off -- generally there's a pub and cafe within a short distance, and free access to most of the green spaces for exercise. Plus you've got plenty of buses.
It's not perfect, but it's pretty significantly better than my home in Bristol.
It depends on where. In Paris itself, the metro network is quite a bit denser than the tube, but as soon as you exit the city limit and get into the "petite couronne" municipalities, it quickly drops off in density.
Many here have (rightly) pointed to the conspiracy theory among the right, I think that there's another (albeit smaller) reason: conformity and general laziness. This is especially true here in the U.S. People have just gotten too used to car dependency and suburbia.
I assume (pre-reading) the House of Lords and English aristocrats gone mad are responsible.
These are the source of a lot of disasterous policy in the UK.
What? House of Lords has no legislative power -- only the power of delay. If anything in recent years they've worked to frustrate the excesses of this Tory government (not that I necessarily approve of the Lords as an institution).
It's got far more to do with a rabid right wing media and a Tory party that builds their election strategy on 'culture war' identity politics over actual policy.
But anyway, reality is that London and Paris have pretty similar levels of transit -- working in transport, my opinion is that it's internal transport links within other cities that need most investment and work.
