15-Minute Cities?

[@theslamdancekid]

>talks about conspiracy theories >makes the video 9:11 long >refuses to elaborate

[@Ostermond]

it’s a conspiracy!!! 🤪

[@normanstevens4924]

It's now only 9:10 long. Obviously the deep state is censoring this video by slowly removing content.

[@Vonononie]

I hope this gets 666 likes

[@Lego6980]

Haha

[@mikemccarthy4765]

haha brilliant!

[@wurly1]

Oh Jago, how very quaint of you to imagine that the Transport Secretary (who is an accountant with only 1 train station in his entire constituency that has annual entry/exit of only 0.196m; only 3 bus routes; and was put in position with the sole objective of ripping as much money as possible out of the railways) should actually know anything at all about... Transport.

[@samuelmelton8353]

A 90 year old might not be able to drive either. But they should always have the freedom to walk/ use a wheelchair to get to a local shop or GP surgery. What gets me is the amount of parents who drive their kids to school, complain about lack of parking, then complain about creating walkable communities. If a child can't walk to their school, then your home is too far from the school. If they can't get public transport, then it shows that we have prioritised cars at public transport and walking's expense. I understand if your child comes from a village without a suitable bus connection - but I live near a school road which gets flooded with suburban parents driving SUVs every morning. It's insanity. A sedentry society is bad for health and freedom. Cars ruin traditional towns, look aesthetically horrible, and ruin our countryside.

[@hugsparty]

We moved to a 1950s suburb in 2019 specifically for the parade of shops and services within a 15 minute walk of our house - imagine my shock in the subsequent years as I found out I’d fallen victim to such a nefarious scheme!

[@KravKernow]

I live in Truro now. So to make it a 15 minute city you'd have to make it about 3 times bigger.

[@piccalillipit9211]

You know all that flat black stuff on the ground with white boxes painted on it...??? "Parking" I think you call it - you no longer need that everywhere.

[@Alex-cw3rz]

Brilliant

[@Pesmog]

Maybe expanding Truro is their plan? 🤔

[@nezbrun872]

Be careful what you wish for.

[@Croz89]

To be fair it is Cornwall, land of streets so narrow you wonder how any car can fit down them in the first place!

[@mattheweagles5123]

People have become so used to driving for hours to out of town shopping centres, past closed town centres that they just can't conceptualise the world as it was in many places 40 odd years ago. They hear that they shouldn't be driving for ages and can't imagine that it's because you don't need to.

[@jimmyviaductophilelawley5587]

I'm 52. Igrew up in Latchford, Warrington. Within 15 minutes walk of my house I could go to: An opticians, A shoe shop. An electrical retail/hire/repair shop, a bicycle shop, a bookies, three supermarkets, a newsagents which sold toys and records as well as newspapers, tobacco and sweets. An amusement arcade. A plant-hire centre, two chemists five bakeries three post offices three co-ops includin a dairy that delivered milk in recyclable glass bottles in a fleet of rechargable electric vehicles and much more. Now there's just a load of of coffee shops bookies and vape shops everywhere. Fifteen minute cities rock! Bring them back!

[@andrewemery4272]

That's one heck of a busy day....!

[@johnd6487]

Thing is, people buy most of that stuff online now. Coffee shops, pubs, cafes and barbers/ hairdressers are all that's left because they're the only places left you *have* to visit.. although with deliveroo et. al. We'll be down to barbers/ hairdressers soon. I noticed on one of my local shopping streets a sign in a shop window saying 'barbers opening soon' there are three others barbers open already, along with a hair salon (and probably others tucked away above the shops where I wouldn't really notice them)

[@eattherich9215]

I grew up and still live in south east London and it was the same for me.

[@Alexx120493]

Yup and none of those businesses would be viable today. You can't cramp enough people into a 15min walking radius to support so many businesses without extremely inflated prices and with those prices all of them would be non competitive in comparison to online shopping. Many of the mentioned brick and mortar shops have completely outdated business models as well. Why would you need post offices when 95% of all communication nowadays is done electronically? Why would you need a store which sells papers and records when you have all of them on your phone or tablet? Why would you need an arcade when you can meetup with your friends online and play games together? Those types of cities disappeared because their customers disappeared.

[@BassandoForte]

Hi from Orford... 🤣👍

[@EmilePoelman]

I love how you can be absolutely vitriolic in a polite, uniquely british way...

[@CtrlOptDel]

That is the defining characteristic of being British.

[@captainjoshuagleiberman2778]

@@CtrlOptDel Kenneth Branagh is brilliant at that.

[@Fluteboy]

The essence of Britishness: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rXzFhmt4YraJkM0 kzbin.info/www/bejne/oZaygoengNuLm7M

[@ThatGeezer]

Tory Transport Ministers have rarely been appointed for their expertise in the subject. It's generally just a job handed out to 'good men' they don't trust with anything important. The exception of course was Earnest Marples, who's deep interest in the subject went way beyond his ministerial duties, and delved deep into the minutiae of how it could best influence his bank account...

[@bucklberryreturns]

Some people: "Our towns and cities are trash, businesses are closing left and right… Broken Britain!" The same people: "How dare you suggest an eatery, butcher, dentist, florist and pub one street over. I demand Amazon next day delivery and soulless out of town shopping! It's shady global population control…"

[@kaitlyn__L]

Exactly. The way they view the car as sacrosanct even while complaining about its effects baffle me. Even before online shopping, out of town shopping centres were closing-down in-town shops and people were freaking out about it.

[@nickryan3417]

The same individuals complain about Low Traffic Neighbourhoods as well, claiming that they are a form of communist oppression and should be fought against and protested. Except we have these everywhere already: they are nothing more ominous that housing estates or residential areas that are not through routes. In other words, safe areas that are not rat runs for motorists, endangering everyone, allowing children to leave their homes and everyone to cross roads in relative safety.

[@famalam943]

From what I’ve heard this isn’t what they’re talking about I don’t think they’re against that, they’re against additional restrictions to parking/driving

[@metricstormtrooper]

​​@@famalam943I can't disagree enough, some of the people I've heard whinging don't even have a car.

[@famalam943]

@@metricstormtrooper problem with that is your statement is just as valid as mine. And I’m talking about people in real life and serious conversations online. Not crazies in an lbc comment section you probably are drawn to

[@MBkufel]

In properly urbanised places we don't call them '15-minute cities'. We just call them cities, that kind of design is the norm.

[@7takes]

"the city was not built for the car, it was bulldozed for the car" -Not Just Bikes

[@rgmusicom]

As if cabinet members have working knowledge of the areas they’re responsible for. 😂

[@ADAMEDWARDS17]

I live in a town where I can walk to two supermarkets, the doctors, two post offices, a bank (until it closes next year!) and the railway station, all in 20 mins max. The local hospital is a 20 min cycle ride away. As a result we don't need a car and so just hire when we need one. That frees road space for those who have to drive. I think 15-20 min cities is a brilliant idea. And no one has told me I cannot do anything I want to.

[@Human_Herbivore]

I lived in Utrecht for about 15 years. It is held up as a perfect example of the 15 minute city and has been around since Roman times.

[@jujuUK68]

Do all 15 minute cities get a cozy red light district too? I hate having to walk 20+ minutes for a prostitute.

[@Human_Herbivore]

@@jujuUK68 😂

[@Human_Herbivore]

@@tims9434 wording, it's just been judged as the best example.

[@truebrit3578]

One of the reasons I like vacationing in the Netherlands (I live in Latin America) is the ability, for just a short time, to enjoy the way of life. Excellent integrated transportation, charming towns not overwhelmed by traffic, an awareness of green needs and the general feel good atmosphere. Even Amsterdam if you get away from the tourist center can be pleasant. The Netherlands would make a good model for developing counties in my region but instead they all seem to want to become Miami.

[@siwynjones]

@@truebrit3578They’re all very good reasons, but you’re forgetting about all the bloody tourists from Latin America. 😊

[@andrewwenzel3600]

Currently studying in the US and the number one thing I miss about being back home is having walkable cities, I have to fork out a fortune on Uber to go to restaurants or the city centre or spend an hour walking down a path on the edge of a highway. Living somewhere where you can walk or use cheap public transport to get anywhere you desire is something that a lot of us brits take for granted. Cars have had and will continue to have their place in society but we shouldn't throw away centuries of good town planning to clear more space for them.

[@Surreal452]

Depends on the city in the US, quite a few still have walkable downtowns especially where I live. Where are you studying?

[@street_ruffian]

Lol ik you mean the downtown (or I think so) but when you say "city centre" in the context of the US I think of those life style center style malls that simulate a walkable downtown but are still just a regular mall surrounded by a sea of parking. I feel like one of those may try to make themselves look more fancy by spelling center like in British English. It also kinda makes me think of some old half abandoned strip mall called Olde Towne Centre Mall or something.

[@InternetWesley]

I just moved from the US to the UK a year ago and I was shocked to see little anti-15-minute-city propaganda stickers here. This country is already so much more accessible without a car compared to the US it's wild the conspiracy is even something thought about here.

[@davidty2006]

Britain was built around well walking and transit. And pretty much has remained the core essential even when cars took over.

[@BassandoForte]

​@@davidty2006- Which is why the UK is less Obese than the US... 👍

[@jonathanjehan2284]

Not sure the words “conspiracy theory” and “thought” necessarily go together, either here or across the pond!

[@TalesOfWar]

Most of these protestors are what we like to call "morons". They're the same people (literally in many cases) who thought Brexit was a grand idea and who still support the Tories despite 13 years of the absolute worst government this country has had in living memory.

[@NathanEllisBodi]

I hope everything goes well for you here in the UK. We have issues, like everywhere but hopefully it will meet your needs..

[@mcarp555]

Funny; I've always seen London as just that: little slices of life here and there. It's been one of the great joys of exploring the metropolis to connect them, so that you can walk from say, the area around the British Library to Russell Square and the British Museum. Each with little cafes and shops and what have you.

[@johnd6487]

So many comments i could make.. but probably the least controversial is the Victoria Wood joke: i went to my local shopping centre, they build them out of town now so old people can't get to them and sit and eat their sandwiches in them.. kind of says it all really.

[@andrewdale3695]

Being able to walk to the shops, doctors, dentist, park? Sounds like heaven to me!

[@jonathanmahoney1672]

Sounds like pie in the sky

[@lordgemini2376]

@@jonathanmahoney1672 but it exists in many places in the UK and the rest of Europe and Asia and South America. What's so pie in the sky about it?

[@telemachus53]

"The problem with building everything at once is that everything needs replacing at once" Brilliant insight and so true. A town like Milton Keynes seems to have no character and seems stuck in a time slot because it was all built in the 60s. There's no old, newer, modern and post modern. It's all going to decline at once!

[@colinw16]

It would be if everything was built at one time but as an ex MK dweller I can assure you it isn't all from the 60s. I moved there in 91 to new house and there was development almost everywhere till I left in 2016. The centre area was created at first and maybe that is what you are describing but not the city overall.

[@highpath4776]

@@colinw16 Didnt Milton Keyens Swallow some local older villages ? Biggest problem was the new train station when the cross country route ran to Bletchley terminating in the "wrong" direction

[@colinw16]

@@highpath4776 yes it did, Milton Keynes was the village name originally. As for the railway station, I am not sure what you mean. I know the new station was added further up the line but given the decline and then resugance of the railway from Oxford to Cambridge ultimately I feel a mistake was made only from hindsight.

[@rych7852]

I have visited MK many many times over the last 20+ years for work. More recently I went for a run from CMK (near The Hub) to Willen Lake. The houses I passed look run down, the car park spaces overgrown. It does look like they ran out of money to keep everything going. And it never really feels like a Town, just a collection of places near each other. If you've ever visited the Olympic Park in Stratford on a Rainy Wednesday morning. It's very similar. Almost like an abandoned city. Doesn't seem to be much in the way of "community" there

[@paulsengupta971]

A friend and I were driving back from Bletchley Park and my friend said he wanted to see MK as he'd never been there. I said ok, but which bit. He said the town centre. I said, well, there isn't really one. There's a shopping centre in the middle and come concrete cows and that's it. We went to the shopping bit. We stopped at the concrete cows for him to take a photo. Shrug.

[@kaitlyn__L]

I appreciate you wading-in on this. I have just read all of the comments (except I assume whatever gets caught in KZbin's "potential spam or abuse" filter) and was thoroughly entertained. Thank you very much.

[@Tevildo]

Some additional random thoughts (not uninfluenced by the consumption of Certain Beverages): 0:40 - A formal lapdog, of the most pampered type! I'm sure it respects cats' boundaries, though. 1:55 - Why not just put the station on the main line? I assume there are meant to be additional stations on the circle, but none are marked. 2:10 (and 3:08, for that matter) - More cities should have homes for inebriates. 4:15 - A subtle comment on "egalitarian"? Or just a good photo? 5:35 - "About to"? I thought they believed that They already had, and are just waiting for the right moment to extirpate the rest of us. 6:20 - Remember that such illustrious politicians as Ernest Marples, Barbara Castle, and Grant Shapps have held that office! 6:55 - Doing a wheelie, in direct contempt of the laws of God and Man? Guilty. Death. General - this video shows, if nothing else, how beautiful the architecture of London is. Comments on its population may be deferred.

[@JagoHazzard]

I thank you for your thanks!

[@kaitlyn__L]

I was just thinking Marples and Shapps show you definitely don't need to know a thing about transport to run the DfT

[@jarthurs]

Living in rural Worcestershire where I can get anywhere in my town within 15 minutes, even the out-of-town retail parks. When I lived in South London it sometimes took me five minutes to cross the road outside my house to the newsagents.

[@TheLandOfJonny]

I think the 15 min issue also comes from the traffic calming measures that have closed through road access and made routes more inaccessible. That’s then been run with.

[@RichardFraser-y9t]

And the problem with that is?

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@RichardFraser-y9t it's not actually a problem, it's just part of the explanation. Some cities also instituted their own version of a congestion charge, much like London, but waived fees a certain number of times for residents and nearby residents. Naturally the conspiracy theorists said this is "proof" of their plans for ultimate control, and sooner or later they'll totally both remove the freebies and go from "pay £5" to "no entry". Conspiracy theorists famously take anything and everything they can, with no context, and shove it into their theory. This can't be avoided, so to try and avoid policies which might be leapt-on by conspiracy theorists would be a fool's errand. But it's still important to understand the "genealogy" of the conspiracy, to dismantle their rhetoric.

[@samuelmelton8353]

Sure, but only because everyone is now so car dependent. I can understand the anger at a residential street being closed off to residential traffic, but we should have been careful about planning for cars in the first place and should be careful going into the future.

[@mattpotter8725]

Traffic calming measures, you mean protecting pedestrians or bicycles from being hit by cars taking previously back street short cuts through residential areas often at high speed? That isn't what proponents of this conspiracy theory propagate, they push that somehow local authorities will take away the freedom to travel outside of their local area which just isn't the case, it's not even possible even with CCTV access. There aren't enough police officers to police actual crimes in three UK as it is without them apparently stopping everyone in the population travelling outside their local area as well. It's an example of right wing media outlets backed by big money interests brainwashing people who aren't intelligent enough to actually things through.

[@quinjimlan]

Interesting to see Dublin Docklands briefly in the beginning of the video! 15 min city very much to the fore in DCC planning.

[@MrGreatplum]

“They have put 2 and 2 together and made banana!” 😆😆 Thank you for making this video - I’m a town planner and this conspiracy theory comes to a massive surprise to all in the industry who are trying to make towns and cities better… Where the conspiracy theory nutters have found this from, I have no idea - I used to be in a number of videos with a guy who made walking videos and he’s fallen totally for all this nonsense 🤦‍♂️

[@grahvis]

I am staggered by the apparent fears many people, even those you assume are of average intelligence, have. One is that cars will be banned or so restricted, those with limited mobility will be unable to live a reasonable life if they can't walk for 15 minutes.

[@beardyface8492]

Your mistake is your profession. No town planner ever made anything better, at their absolute pinnacle the produce places that are only just bearable. Mostly they produce dystopian hell holes. No conspiracy theory here, I'm completely convinced the hell holes are entirely unintentional. However, they're what results from "planners" & their well meaning plans.

[@TheGregcellent]

I think I know exactly who you're talking about. Coincidentally, we live in the same place. I live opposite a park, 5 minute walk to the general hospital, 10 minute walk to my GP same again for the train station, and around the corner from the supermarket. He already lives in a 15 minute city 😂

[@MrGreatplum]

@@TheGregcellent - yes, that’s the man - suffers in the hair department as I do! He already lives in a 15 minute city as you say!

[@roblyndon5267]

It's an astroturfed campaign. If that sounds a bit "jet fuel can't melt steel beams", well it's not without its own paranoia, but we have receipts in the form of shady organisations like HART, The Truth About Cancer, White Rose, and the Informed Consent Action Network. I'll leave you to decide on a collective noun for these groups and the individuals who populate them.

[@adelestevens]

If you take the 15-minute city and apply it to just public transport, then you have quite a big city! I grew up in Bury Lancashire, and until the "big town" planning idea became a thing, everybody lived within a reasonable walking distance to "the shops." I loved this video because you very plainly explained what the idea was behind 15 minute citys and also garden cities (i didn't know they were supposed to be so well planned and compact). I think that we should have transport ministers who have experience in the transport industry or an enthusiasm for integrated transport systems. VOTE JAGO...EXPERIENCE COUNTS!👍

[@lefthandedspanner]

the fear is ultimately of creeping China-style authoritarianism - however, it's many years away in this country, if it happens at all

[@LeafHuntress]

I keep repeating it in these comments, CCTV is a UK problem, not a urban planning problem...

[@Absolute_Zero7]

My personal issue with the concept is less the idea itself, but rather the implementation by politicians. In many cases (at least in North America) it feels like "15 Minute Cities" is being used as an excuse to underfund/cheap out on necessary investments such as public transportation. This is typically done under the guise of "Since everything is within a 15m walk, we won't need higher speed/rapid transit because people won't need to commute", so instead of building out proper metros or suburban rail, they're just building out subpar tram networks, well, people won't need to commute downtown regularly now will they?

[@MidlandMark]

They are the same people who are against pretty much any bicycle of transit infrastructure in the USA, and the reason given? "The USA's too big - no-one will want to cycle/take the bus across the country" There's an excellent video by NotJustBikes that goes into it in a superb level of detail.

[@Enidub]

Have you been to mainland Europe? A lot of countries have what are essentially 15 minute cities/towns, and still manage to have high speed rail or frequent trains and buses to connect them. American political culture very much reduces the choices Americans have in regards of how they live, despite being the land of the free. Making mixed used zoning/planning somewhat illegal is one way in which they do this.

[@Vonononie]

@@MidlandMarkI don’t get the “the USA is too big” argument. If a Brit needs to travel 1 hour on the train to work, and an American needs to travel 1 hour on the train to work, what difference does the other side of the country matter? Japan is just as long as the USA (not as wide!) and have a high speed train connecting north and south over a very difficult landscape, with earthquakes. But apparently the USA is ‘too big’ for a rail service connecting north to south on the east coast, where there is comparable population density.

[@MidlandMark]

Exactly - their arguments are built on quicksand. They are utterly unable to see that a country, no matter the size, is built on a number of entities, some inter-connected (such as New York City), some semi-connected (such as the area around San Francisco Bay) and others unconnected, with each entity requiring internal connectivity in order to function, but they are unwilling (or unable) to see the difference between the whole and the parts, hence their 'arguments' against transit improvements not making any sense. Here in the West Midlands, we have a lot of new bicycle infrastructure, which Manchester (100 miles away) doesn't have, but they have a 100-station tram system, which Leeds (50 miles away) doesn't have - and at no point did anyone squeal "they shouldn't have it, because it won't reach xxx". One day, hopefully soon, the USA will look at Europe, see what we do, and think: "You know what? They might be on to something".

[@sokonek1]

@@Vonononiethe issue comes not from intra metro public transit, but inter, specifically connecting the North East/Great Lakes to the West Coast. You have a number of states with under 1,000,000 population that are roughly as big or larger than the the Island of Britain. So the US could 100% support two systems, one for the west coast and one for the Great Lakes and East Coast. With other slower and cheeper rail options for the middle.

[@VkmSpouge]

"One would expect the Secretary of Transport to have a basic working knowledge of a concept he's talking about that relates to transportation" Normally so but this is the Conservative government, so basic knowledge of...well, anything isn't a requirement to be a minister.

[@mypointofview1111]

Perfectly illustrates that where politicians are concerned just because your title says you're the person responsible for... doesn't mean you know anything about it. Politicians like journalists are pretty stupid and just make stuff up which probably why you can never get a straight answer out of any of them.

[@template16]

A great video Jago. I can't even get to my nearest town in less than 30 minutes by car so can't see me walking anywhere in the foreseeable future.

[@vulgivagu]

True for a large number of people especially the elderly. I am in that category and have no bus service as they were withdrawn.

[@highpath4776]

Jago , I think you need to do a series on the verticality of London , like why Hampstead is(was?) the deepest tube station in London. And ride top deck buses like the 91 for the sheer decent from Crouch Hill accross looking over the literal Thames Valley , or the X68 superloop (non loop bus) as it plummets and rises over the North Wood hills toward the North Downs of Croydon (catch a follow on bus to Caterham on The Hill for good measure. then get the cycle loving planners to ride the roadsby bike.

[@jackiespeel6343]

The W3 for the view from Alexandra Palace.

[@rowejon]

The images you show are of pre-car cities. The Netherlands has shown that you can create a non car focused urban enviroment

[@1nbp]

Rotterdam is also interesting as it was built as a car centric city after WW2 practically flattened it. If you look at it now it’s fairly easy to get around without a car

[@TalesOfWar]

You could show most parts of London or any other large European city with good public transport to be fair. Or smaller cities with satellite towns which is the more common situation outside of such places. They're basically 15 minute cities within a larger urban "blob". Most neighbourhoods in London have most things you need within walking distance, many only leave their local areas because of work, or because they can thanks to the actually good public transport.

[@BelfryClock]

To quote Jago Hazzard - “in this video, I shall have to tread the murky waters of politics”

[@sirrliv]

In principle, I'm very much in favor of the 15-Minute City concept with a couple of caveats. The biggest change I would make is in the specification that "Everything needs to be within 15 minutes of where people *live*."; I would amend that to also include public transport links that move people from their homes to the city centers; i.e. everything being a 15-minute walk not just from homes but from the nearest tram stop, tube station, or railway station (personally, I think that buses should be demoted to only short distance sub-30 minute journeys with exceptions for special circumstances like rural transport, but that's another story). Related to this idea, something I've seen gain great success in city building games like Cities: Skylines is the Commercial Square, where small pockets of commercial real estate along with some city services (fire stations, police, healthcare clinics, etc.) are built around a public transport link; a tram interchange or metro station) within a larger residential neighborhood, the idea being that people going to work in the cities can pop round the shops for some light essentials on their way home while heavier shopping is still just a train ride away. The biggest real world issue I see with the 15-Minute City concept is Free Market Capitalism. The really real world isn't like a game where you can tell each shop what it's going to be in order to meet all local demand or tell landlords who's going to build what where and how much they're going to charge for rent/lease and who they're going to lease to. All of these are left up to the vagaries of random human choice. It's all fine and good having space available for your 15-Minute City dream, but if all people want to open there are high end restaurants and boutique clothing salons, then there's not much local councils can do to get a new grocery or hardware store in, meaning people still need to leave the perfectly planned town center to fulfill their needs. That's not conspiracy, that's just Capitalism. People can open what they want where they want, landlords can charge outrageous rents that may prevent businesses from opening at all, and there's not a lot councils can do about it.

[@Rschaltegger]

When you find that every 15min walking distance there will be a Warhammer Shop...IT HAS HAPPENED! GW took over the world

[@DeathInTheSnow]

Ah, if only it was a FLGS instead... there used to be two near me! Jennings, between Brick Lane and Carterhatch Lane, and The Hobby Shop near the Albany Leisure Centre. All gone now. So is the original GW shop in Genotin Road, ironically the road was widened to make way for... more cars in Enfield Town... 🙄

[@Rschaltegger]

@@DeathInTheSnow technically...l need to go to another country for an actual WH shop

[@DeathInTheSnow]

I feel you, mate. By far my favourite shop isn't even in the UK. It's Colours of Warriors in Plzeň, The Czech Republic. It's right in the town square, about 45 seconds away from the tram stop. It feels like another life compared to London.

[@peabody1976]

The Fifteen-Minute City in a modern context would work even better if: 1) not everyone **can** walk between work and home; 2) we need to decentralise commerce (think: fewer ASDA superstores, and more local shops with more specialty); 3) anything that fits outside "15 minutes" should be connected by transport (especially trains) and NOT by car. (You can probably see based on my follow and past comments where I fall on this idea, which is absolutely yes we should be doing this in as many places as possible.)

[@xGeorge1337x]

"15 minute cities" exist everywhere. Go anywhere in Europe, where they don't prioritise acres of asphalt for cars instead of walkable areas, cycle lanes and public transport and you'll see them. People think "cars give me freedom". Yes, because I am so free to legally pay road tax, car insurance, petrol, and maintenance just to sit in traffic, dodge potholes and obey speed limits. "Freedom" isn't cars. Freedom is choice. What the UK lacks is choice, because we've spent so long prioritising cars that we've neglected everything else.

[@kaitlyn__L]

Indeed, actual implementations of the idea usually focus on 15 minutes' walking radius, 15 minutes' biking radius, and 15 minutes' urban train travel radius as the three tiers of availability. For lesser-used things, you wouldn't necessarily be expected to walk to them but would have to be able to get to them quickly by public transport. This was also part of the "Microrayon" planning system in Soviet cities, the bones of which still exist. People would usually have a doctor's office in their superblock, but not necessarily a specialist which they would be expected to take the subway to.

[@Croz89]

Problem is the big ASDA stores are way cheaper and have nearly everything you'd want for a weekly shop. Having lots of individual little supermarkets either means you've got to spend more time shopping or be prepared to cut down the diversity of stuff you buy. You're also likely to pay quite a bit more for it too.

[@paulsengupta971]

@@xGeorge1337x That's not actually true. Anyone who wants to live near all the shops can do so, assuming they can afford the property prices. People absolutely have a choice. Many people who live in cities are choosing to live without a car. Other people, whose lives don't all happen within a 15 minute walk of their house, choose to be elsewhere where they can easily get in and out. "Freedom isn't cars." It is for me. That's my choice.

[@holnrew]

Oof, well done for confronting this subject. Good luck with the harassment

[@joules531]

I don't live in a "15 minute city", but I can certainly get to everywhere I want to go within a 15 minute cycle ride. And I can confirm that when I take the train, or occasionally drive, I have yet to be arrested for travelling further than I'm apparently supposed to.

[@trevorelliston1]

A wonderful video. Beautifully spoken. I have said it before and will say it again but it is the architecture and social commentary videos like this one that take you out of the realm of being a transport nerd and set you apart from others. Please keep on being grumpy with biting commentary like this one.

[@Foebane72]

From the beginning of civilisation, EVERY city and town in human history has been 15 minutes, it's only since the car became a priority that it's all been messed up for pedestrians.

[@dansheppard2965]

I love the old-skool distinction between "members of the government" and "nutters on the internet".

[@dadobna2686]

If I wasn't subscribed already this video would definitely get me to hit that button. You didn't deviate from your usual way of presenting content even though there certainly were some more personal statements in there. Amazing.

[@uplink-on-yt]

The future: Everything is a 15-minute jet flight away (plus check-in, plus security, plus various delays)

[@masteroogway2418]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think public transport, ie trains, are inclueded in the 15-minute city concept. I think the idea is that you can walk anywhere in a 15-minute radius for daily trips, but you can take the train 15 minutes to go to a doctors appointment or to meet a friend or something. I think public transport is actually considered an extension of walking/cycling. The only mode it really aims to replace is having to own a car and drive everywhere.

[@garycook5071]

Within 15 minutes of my house I do not have a baker, a butcher, a greengrocer (nor a candlestick maker). I do have a lot of fast food takeaways so this certainly wouldn’t make me healthier.

[@eattherich9215]

Eat the burger or fried chicken on the walk home. 😂😂😂

[@vanman266]

I see Jago joined the illuminati 😮

[@JagoHazzard]

When you get that gilded invitation, you don’t say no.

[@davidn8245]

I am lucky enough to live in Downtown Toronto and have everything within 15 minutes walk of my home and work but that’s very rare in Canada. I rarely use my car which is great.

[@warren_r]

I'm in downtown Montreal. It's great here too.

[@fishettibean]

Newport (south wales) is a 15min city right now. Until the moment the M4 has a crash/closed etc. Then it becomes a 15hr city.... 😂

[@paulsengupta971]

15 mins is as much as any sane person would want to spend in Newport...

[@highpath4776]

Home for Inebriates ? Insane Asylum . Hell ,are you sure that map isnt the design for new houses of parliament ?

[@davidbarrass]

I live in Edinburgh, within 15 minures walk is:- The place I work, a vast shaopping centre, health centre and a hill high above the city. 5 minites are 2 excellent local shops 2 cafes & my denitst. 30 minutes walk is the hospital, train station and city centre. I rarly bother with a bus and never bother with my car. I cannot comprehend that anti 15 minute city thing, local living is a great way to live.

[@john1703]

Some of us always went to school on foot or bicycle or bus or train, and not in a car.

[@sarfendman]

If they were to be new 15 minute cities then they would work but to implement the idea to exsisting ones would be too costly

[@AFCManUk]

Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they're not watching you. ;)

[@lindsaycole8409]

This is how London used to build suburbs on the Tube like the North End of the Northern Line. Buy land, plan surface tube line from an underground line servicing central London, at each station setup a town center with amenities, build housing around that centre and sell it for profit.

[@MidlandMark]

An absolutely facinating and thought-provoking video, really well done. On the point of 'how big?', the Dutch model may be a way forward (as if often the case with town planning); they have deemed that a 15-Minute City is any City (or Town) where you can CYCLE to all the important locations neccessary for a healthy life within 15 minutes, and to prove the case, they already have an entire City that qualifies - Utrecht. in 2018 and 2019, they confirmined that 100% of all residents were within 15 minutes of a school, medical facility, shops (where you can buy bananas), transport (very important, that one) etc by bicycle. No gates, no DNA scans, no ration cards. It is perhaps the ultimate irony that these individuals simultaneously hark back to a 'simpler' time that never existed, yet reject any idea, plan or even thought that might make their lives better because of people they can't name, who have plans they can't describe, to achieve ends that make no logical sense (unless every fifth word is 'obviously' or 'secret' or 'cobal').

[@highpath4776]

I hope there is enough places to park and maintain ones bicylce

[@MidlandMark]

@highpath4776 Here, or there? That would need to be part of any rebuilding exercise, alongside improvements to pavements and public transport infrastructure.

[@Flying_Skier]

missed chance on making this one 15 mins honestly

[@CharlieDavison-lq6be]

Oh my god, more stock footage of Harlow exists outside of the 724 bus video.

[@tattyshoesshigure5731]

Lived in N.London for 71 years & gave up my car long ago as the public transport system there is fairly comprehensive, and I also invested in a push bike about 25 years back for my daily Finchley to Holborn commute, although not when it was very rainy as arriving at work soaked through is no fun at all. Since retiring I’ve moved to pocket sized Chichester, which is a delightful place to walk into & around, but I admit I do miss the sheer scale of London’s magnificence. ‘You can take the boy out of the city, but you can’t take the city out of the boy’ to adapt the old idiom!

[@GreatSageSunWukong]

The thing is owning a car for those who can afford it is seen as a right of passage, my father owned a car his entire life, living in london he didn't need it and didn't drive to work as it was inconvenient trying to drive into central london, instead he justified having a car by using it at weekends to go to random places and did his weekly shop by car rather a distance away rather then at the local supermarket, always did. so having a 15 minute city doesn't really mean anything when many people drive to somewhere else because they can, they enjoy driving, they think a car is a useful thing to own and want to justify it by driving to somewhere several miles out of town rather then walking 10 mins up the road.

[@Vonononie]

Well it sounds like he was using the principles of 15 min towns. Using public transport to get to work as he was going into a crowded city centre. I assume he walked to the station as you said it was London, which easy access (without a car) to public transport is a core principle. When he wanted to go further afield he used his car. It’s about having choices. Short distances, walk or bike. Medium distances, bike or bus. Longer distances, train or car. It’s not about saying you must use your local Morrisons! Edit: it is about saying you should have a choice to shop locally without having to drive your car 1.2 miles as there is no way to walk and no bus to your local Morrisons

[@GreatSageSunWukong]

@@Vonononie It was entirely unnecessary to drive to shop to buy his daily newspaper tho, it was clearly because he had a car so wanted to use it rather then needed one and thats the thing.

[@Vonononie]

@@GreatSageSunWukong true and I think there will always be people who want to drive 45 seconds up the road. The aim is to stop this being the norm, like we see in parts of America where people drive their children three doors along to the school bus stop as there’s no pavement and they don’t want to walk. If the majority aren’t in cars then it will improve the local environment

[@GreatSageSunWukong]

@@Vonononie America was built for the car, they have very little choice as shown by the channel Not Just Bikes.

[@Vonononie]

@@GreatSageSunWukong true that’s why I said they might not have pavements to walk to the bus stop. Not just bikes gives a real eye opener at just how hard it is to walk about some parts of the USA (those car parks are huge!). Unfortunately I’ve seen it creeping in here with new developments with no pavements, no local shops in developments and the developments are off a duel carriageway so there’s no way to walk to shops/public transport/pubs/local services. Hopefully they won’t be allowed to build like that anymore or we will all end up driving to the local shops to get our papers!

[@aidanfolkes]

Interesting that KZbin picked up on you mentioning the great reset and has added context from Wikipedia.

[@EngineerLewis]

In my provincial East Midland's town we talk about everything being 5 minutes away - in a car of course! 🤣

[@davidjames3787]

I spoke to a town planner in the North of England about a Garden Village project, (three new villages comprising 10,000 new houses),which is planned for my area. He envisioned that most people who lived in the Garden Village wouldn't travel to the city centre for work, leisure, shopping GP surgeries etc. Having seen the plans I don't think that the concept will work, as many people will gravitate towards the best jobs even if they're outside the 'village', they'll want to have a choice of supermarkets shops, places to eat, trips to the cinema, the football match and the rest.

[@highpath4776]

Due to crowding at Elizabeth Line Liverpool Street yesterday it took me 20mins to walk from Northern Line (Moorgate) to Hammersmith and City (Liverpool Street - I gave up with trying to use the EL due to a broken down frieght train in the Brentwood area messing things up)

[@colingreen8501]

why didn't you walk from one end of the EL platform to the other?

[@highpath4776]

@@colingreen8501 I was walking on the platform (colliding with those attempting to board trains - six arrived , all full to everywhere

[@lundimardi1975]

Love this slightly more edgy side to Jago. Love the plain speak, as well - more like this please.

[@spookydirt]

excellent work, Jago, more grumpy, intolerant, and sarcastic videos, please.

[@philwoodall9023]

Thank you Jago, here in my bit of Paris I have a 5 minute city for most things; bread, supermarket, gym and three markets. Fifteen minutes gives me much more on top.

[@jonchapman999]

How many existing UK cities could be converted into a 15-minute model. Most would require a cluster of '15-minute neighbourhoods'. I live in Cambridge, a small city of 150,000 people. Even here their area neighbourhoods that lack the variety to become '15-minute neighbourhoods' without a huge development in public transport infrastructure if car dependence is to be phased out. Also, Cambridge is a hub for a wider network of villages within a 7-10 mile radius. How would these dormitory villages be affected? The problem is imposing a 'one size fits all' concept on communities that have grown organically in very context-specific ways. It would be a little bit like trying to rationalise the London Underground and overground network.

[@calvinmarkpayne]

Concept: Essential services should be near where you live. Conspiracy: 'They' won't let you go more than 15 mins away from your home. How did we get this stupid?

[@allidusedup]

Right wing media is how.

[@TalesOfWar]

We've always been this stupid as a species. The internet just allows people to more easily find others of the same ilk and pool the stupid, then amplify it. It's like cancer. It's not necessarily more common than it used to be, we're just getting better at detecting it and people generally live longer, so more chance of developing it. I like Einstein's quote on the subject; "Two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I am not yet completely sure about the universe.”

[@davisbloke]

Jewish space lasers fired their Bill-Gates-DNA-Covid-vaccine into us and made us slaves to the crab people who live on the underside of our flat earth. It's not our fault! #stopthesteal of our intelligence.

[@doctordeath2332]

Bollocks

[@Kevin-mx1vi]

Facebook.

[@ridleyscurry2480]

I love my car. I really do, and I love the freedom it gives me, but by golly I wish I didn’t have to take it absolutely everywhere. Like the grocery store and church and the barber…. But instead use it for out of town stuff

[@playwithmeinsecondlife6129]

Where I live in upstate New York I am 0.7 miles (about a kilometer) from a Walmart, one of the better grocery stores, a coin laundry, bank, and church and a block from city buses, access to downtown and intercity buses and an hour by bus from trains and planes. It is a fifteen minute city.

[@adamyt0]

i love your channel

[@Jablicek]

Within a 15 minute walk of my house (admittedly reasonably central London, but still) - a polyclinic, a mouthful of dentists, 1:1 ratio of coffee shop to dry cleaners, shopping centre, another shopping street, decent butcher, multiple good bread shops, 7 large supermarkets and 4 express variety, restaurants, at least 5 chemists, clothing shops, outdoors shop, bike shops (2), the last remaining hardware shop, a train station, nightclubs, several schools, and a theatre. The only thing we're missing is a hospital and it would be Sim City. It's a lack of understanding what the 15-minute city is - it's that thing above what I mentioned with all those services and shops. The future exists today!

[@flippop101]

A quality, thought provoking video. I am one of the lucky ones living in a north German city where everything from buying groceries to going to the theatre can be done within a 15 minute walk. However, like in the Netherlands most people achieve that in half the time by going by bicycle!

[@AntonSmyth-od6rc]

People decry the loss of local customs, dialect and community, then oppose schemes that actually oromote localism 😂

[@MLampner]

I live in a rural area of the states, as it is near the ocean we are watching the area be converted from a mixture of homes and farms with small town centers. I can or at least could walk or ride a bike to just about everything I needed. With the rapid pace of development and the lack of investment in infrastructure that is increasingly dangerous to try. We are becoming a suburb without a city. I am not suggesting development cease but that there be some attempt to reserve some land for farming, some land for new town centers and public transit so the rural roads which have not bee upgraded to deal with the ever increasing traffic do not need to be endlessly expanded.

[@daveherbert6215]

Love it, love it, love it ❤

[@sonwig5186]

I just don't get why anyone wouldn't like 15 minute cities... like its just a name for something EVERYONE across the political divide, except car and oil companies, want. But I guess those lobbies have a lot of sway on the government and media.

[@alanclarke4646]

It's probably "Big Oil" that started the conspiracy theory...

[@allanfstone]

@@BernardSamson-hf6fc Said no-one. Ever. 😂

[@hymek7017]

​​@@BernardSamson-hf6fcactually no, that's not real or true. Why do you believe such rubbish?

[@Alexx120493]

I have two reasons: 1. You will be very likely not allowed or not even able to leave them without special authorization 2. You are giving up a lot of personal space -> I visited the Solar Decathlon 2022 in Wuppertal Germany, a competition between 18 different universities to present modern sustainable living solutions by acutally building and testing them over a year. It was like a model village with 18 different buildings. I was hoping to find interesting solutions to use solar energy (its even called Solar decathlon) and other methods to save energy, reuse rain water etc. What I actually found was a horror show consisting of horrendous commual living concepts. Your personal space in those concepts consisted often of not more than an 80x200cm mattres with some storage space underneath and a couple of coat hooks. One concept had pod like structures with wheels so you could rearrange them on the floor depending on how many you people you wanted to cramp in the building The kitchen (some did not even have one) was shared between all inhabitants. Same with the bathroom. They were soviet communal living houses with some modern design and fancy materials stuck upon them. All of this was payed for by the german government and the European Union. You can even visit their website and read the 336 pages of source book with pictures of all the things I described above (available in German and English)

[@alanclarke4646]

@@hymek7017 he probably believes the covid jab is full of nano bots as well🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@raverdeath100]

the fact that the 15 minute city idea is regarded suspiciously by some just goes to show how ridiculously stupid some reactionaries are.

[@AnthonyHandcock]

It appeals to the pearl-clutchers who are never happy unless they have something to get their knickers in a twist about.

[@Inkyminkyzizwoz]

Reminds me of when the licensing laws were changed to allow pubs to have 24 hour licences. The way it was being reported very much made it sound like it meant that pubs would be open round the clock, when in reality all pub licences do as far as hours are concerned is specify what times they're ALLOWED to be open between - they don't HAVE to be open for all of that time if they don't want to! So if pubs have 24 hour licences, all that means is that there are no restrictions on when they can open, in other words they can choose their own hours

[@Munkenba]

@@hikerjoe3773 Restricting car use in dense urban environments isn't the same thing as restricting freedom of travel you numpty.

[@highpath4776]

@@hikerjoe3773 LTNs, and Canterbury's wedge permit ring road plans

[@highpath4776]

@@Inkyminkyzizwoz There was / is a change that the licence is set by the local authority (politcal - and normally must be granted unless reasons not to), rather than the local police , which I think was a retrograde step.

[@nottmfunguy]

I take it this is only applies to people who live in cities who can't go more then their 15 minute radius? We live pretty remotely in the countryside. Don't get me wrong I don't mind, in fact sounds pretty good, I can get to the nearest village and there is a sprinkling of very nice pubs in walking distance. I work remotely, my wife works locally. We are always out with the dogs walking in the hills.

[@TheDaern]

Good video. Now that our government have shown they are not averse to assigning ministerial positions outside of the pool of MPs, how do you fancy going for the transport gig? Appoint Geoff, Tim and Jay as your advisory panel and I reckon you'd have a significantly superior department.

[@Tevildo]

I'd take Jay off that list - he's accepted a sponsorship from BetterHelp. Look them up if you don't know why that's a bad thing.

[@TheWolfXCIX]

I dont know why anyone uses the "15 minute city" branding, as it very specifically makes people think of lockdowns. Just say deregulated zoning and pedestrianisation

[@fishwithapipe]

so, to quote the minister most opposed to the concept, "it's just good town planning", i can't agree more

[@Phuc_Yhou]

The wheelie kid swerving for the camera 😎👍😂

[@marksimons8861]

6:06 Laughed out loud when I heard your reference to GB News. Well said, sir.

[@highpath4776]

Problem with mums flat. Half of the essentials are in 15min to the east. the other half are 15min to the west. Thus a complete day of essential visitation ( assuming doctors appt does not clash with the church coffee morning) is One HOUR of travelling.

[@storm1968eu]

i live in a 15-minute city. not by design, but by 800 years of history. it's very convenient and cheap on 'move' time and cost because i can live in a compact house and i don't need to own a car. if i really need one there's always a few i can rent (share) for a few hours. and several trains leave in all directions every hour from 0500h until past midnight. keeping the city this way is not straightforward though. the council has to keep the centre interesting for all sorts of (small) shops and shoppers, and facilitate small and medium sized businesses to operate and employ people in the neighbourhood. as a result the housing market is expensive compared to the surrounding rural areas, even for a small city of about 35000 inhabitants. so protecting a diversified housing market (small, basic, affordable options) is also a challenge.

[@chrissaltmarsh6777]

In my city - Edinburgh - I have a twenty minute walk to get a pheasant from the game dealer. But the tram stop is 5 minutes away, so that's alright. The evil conspiracy council have put in 20mph limits to slow motorists, and emission controls, and apparently parking is expensive.

[@gcooper642]

I can't believe how good the buses are here. I still have a car because my parents live in the middle of nowhere and I need to get there somehow, but I don't need a car for inner city travel at all

[@chrisinnes2128]

​@@gcooper642that's because it is basically a tram replacement bus service

[@Djarra]

The reason for this is that a similar concept, with the same name, was implemented as a restriction on movement in fachest Italy. As far the current proposal the real problem is that they’ll just end up as forgotten sink estates like Thamesmede.

[@simonerossi6074]

Is there anything which conspiracy theorists have not turned banana.

[@TheSpaceBrosShow]

There's already some places in the United States that could pass ass 15 minute cities. Parts of Chicago and most of NYC come to mind. Feasible or not, its more like a call to build denser multi use spaces and invest in better transit infrastructure than a rigid guideline

[@hyperdistortion2]

My parents live in a London suburb which was once a rural village. They regularly see a bunch of noisy people with placards protesting whatever’s in the news this week. Recently they were very angry about 15 minute cities. Which are, as rightly described by Jago here, essentially villages. So they were, in effect, protesting the concept of villages… in a village. Bizarre. Great video as always Jago, appreciate the efforts to debunk this kind of silliness.

[@RichardFraser-y9t]

I bet they walked to the protest.

[@EightThreeEight]

7:30 This can be said of almost every cabinet minister we've had in about the past five years.

[@stevemichael8458]

And heaven knows, there have been more than enough of them!

[@grahamstubbs4962]

Keep that horse manure away from my sandwiches, scones and tea. Your indulgence is appreciated. 🙂

[@davidblackuk]

fan flippin tastic. Thanks for this

[@AndreiTupolev]

1:51Is definitely a contender in the moustache stakes, and the name Ebenezer has got to help too

[@samsaltwell]

3:00 Fun fact: the back left of the lake is where A Clockwork Orange's "into the water" fight was filmed.

[@Ostermond]

Second comment, and hopefully uncontroversial: the ideals behind fifteen-minute cities are good, actually, and people who think otherwise are fools. Naturally, there’d be plenty of work to be done, but the general _concept_ behind them is a general positive.

[@Mgameing123]

@@hikerjoe3773 The result would be people getting more exercise.

[@Henry-oj1oo]

2:31 I’d recognise that building anywhere, that’s Harlow 😅