The Bizarre Backlash to 15-Minute Cities

[@fenlandwildlifeclips]

People who bash this stuff have clearly never lived in a village.

[@george46light]

Or practically anywhere in the Netherlands

[@fatveganliberator]

Hey Tom, just some constructive criticism; when you upload your next podcast either to Spotify or KZbin, please ensure that you check the peak dbs & the LUFs value for the whole podcast. I was listening while playing Rocket League and even with the game at 50% I could barely hear you. This is something that you'll remember to do over time, but it's really important to do to ensure people aren't needing to change their volume between videos, then getting deafened when they go onto other content like I did. Outside of this though from what I could hear it seemed like a very logical and sensible conversation.

[@whatthehelliot]

i was gonna say the same thing, it's very quiet! I thought I was losing the rest of my hearing lol

[@Spike-hl2mw]

Yea volume is quite low. Had to put on headphones and crank all the volume controls to max.

[@NyleGames]

Yup agreed, also had to boost my volume, and I never need to do that.

[@kira.manaka]

absolutely agree... i was trying to listen to the podcast while in the car and i could not hear tom over the engine noise while i was deafened by Münecat... (maybe some volume normalization would be great, because im genuinely interested in the topic, but i cant really listen to it like that)

[@godfreyozzy7128]

This video plays at perfectly normal volume on both my phone & television.

[@alanboyle6751]

A Tom Nicholas and Munecat collab about 15-minute-city hysteria is everything I need for my Good Friday evening.

[@jannetteberends8730]

I didn’t know about the conspiracy. When you told what it was, I laughed for a couple of minutes. Being from The Netherlands, I lived my whole life with this concept. Every new neighborhood here was planned with obligatory shops and schools. That’s why I have a Chinese restaurant, a Lidl, a bakery, a Turkish butcher just beside the building. The school building, including social work is opposite the street. There is a playground for children. There is also a little playground for little children a little walk away from my building. On a 10 minute walk is the pharmacy and medical center, and a large supermarket with a post office inside. A 10 minute bike, brings me to a shopping area with all kinds of shops.

[@awandererfromys1680]

Dutchie too. I assume that just like me you've been to other European countries. It's the same there. We've always build like that really. Our cities are old, like Roman or Saxon times old. They were never designed around cars. They were designed for pedestrians, horses, and hand carts. And bikes in our case. US cities were designed around cars the moment the industry became profitable. Unless you live in a large city you need a car to get anything done because there's nothing around within walking distance. No shopping malls, no schools, no hospitals, often even no public transport. Just suburbia. That's all by design. From an US perspective I can sorta understand where they are coming from. It's still a silly conspiracy but if you're as car dependent as the majority of Americans are I can see the mindset behind it. What I don't understand is the protests in Europe. I mean sure, EU populists copying US populists, but these people go to protests _with public transport._ Half the people don't even own cars. And somehow improving their mobility is oppressive...? Wappie-logic is absolutely completely backwards.

[@jannetteberends8730]

@@awandererfromys1680 but newly build neighborhoods must also have enough shops and schools, and so on. So in the cities you are almost always in walking distance of shops. But I don’t know if that is also the case in other countries. We were pretty early in abandoning the car again, so the rules stayed in place. And people who go with this conspiracy flow are most of the time not the smartest, and probably think it’s a whole new concept. Not realizing they live in a 15 minute neighborhood.

[@awandererfromys1680]

@@jannetteberends8730 From what I've seen it's certainly the way they build new urban areas, especially around cities with a historical center. A lot of old concepts are presented as new in conspiracy theories, and usually as radical as well. Like cheap (if not free) public transport everywhere. Over sixty European cities already have that but I've heard it called a leftist pipedream [*]. Anyway. The right to repair. Universal healthcare. Affordable housing based on demographic developments instead of free market dynamics. Here's a monthly allowance, go get educated. Ideas that were common practice just forty or fifty years ago before everything got denationalized and deregulated. [*] Fun fact: Qbuzz, which operates public transport services in Zuid-Holland, Utrecht, Drenthe and Groningen, is owned by the Italian government. I guess it's only a leftist pipedream when it's owned by us.

[@jongya]

Omg like being from the US when I heard what they were complaining about I laughed and cried at the same time. I’m over here fantasizing about what it must be like to run multiple errands without spending all day in the car and they’re in an uproar bc they’re getting handed my dreams. Everything in my country feels like it was designed and planned without putting more than 2 seconds of forethought into it.

[@Marco_Onyxheart]

The thing is, we have an anti-15-minute-city movement in the Netherlands too. Mostly FvD wappies of course. But apparently, some people actually want everyone to travel at least an hour to the nearest bloody store.

[@AverytheCubanAmerican]

People in the US argue against 15-minute cities because they refuse to let go of their precious highways...the said highways that get lots of traffic because the US is a car-oriented society that view transit as something for profit instead of something for the people. When I lived in Jersey City's The Heights, everything from the supermarket, church, swimming pool, Rite Aid, salon, pet shop, fast-food, good local pizza, and the bank were all on Central Ave, a five-minute walk away. And if we wanted to go to the mall, we could either take a private Spanish jitney, NJT bus, or walk to the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail to get to Newport Centre. Or if we wanted to spend the day in NYC, we took a direct NJT bus to the PABT. Jersey City is an example of a transit city in North America done right, and that's not talking about the fact there's the PATH, pedestrianized downtown, and the nearby Hoboken Terminal for NJT rail. The argument that a 15-minute city is a prison like certain people say is blatantly false when you can most definitely go to other places if you like. It's not like you're FORCED to remain! Meanwhile, people in American suburbia who don't own, can't afford, or can't physically or mentally drive a car feel trapped because of the society that car people created. Prioritizing improvements to transit and the national railway network would solve many problems.

[@ObsceneSuperMatt]

Unless, like in China, you fence in each 15-minute city and lock everyone inside their designated zone during epidemic, social unrest, or for any other reason.

[@tonywalters7298]

Many americans believe cars = freedom because you can get further in a car than by bike or walking and feel the public transit is poor and limited (which is unfortunately the case in many american cities)

[@ObsceneSuperMatt]

@@tonywalters7298 And as shown by the pandemic, public transit can be far deadlier.

[@TryinaD]

@@ObsceneSuperMattsweetie, i live in Singapore and we have very strict rules regarding public transport in the pandemic. You’re just a private transport stan.

[@ianhomerpura8937]

​@@ObsceneSuperMatt China is just as carcentric as the US lol. It produces around 22 million cars annually, and also has a huge highway network that is almost always congested. They had no choice but to build more railways to increase capacity. Meanwhile, US cities just keep on expanding the interstate highways like wtf

[@ernststravoblofeld]

It sounds like a bunch of people came to protest traffic calming by enjoying walking around in the streets. I wonder if the irony will ever strike them.

[@tomg268]

Why do I feel like I’m watching a librarian interview a rockstar?

[@jameswarren2222]

Having watched both of you guys independently, its awesome to see you doing a joint show! Great content.

[@captainroberts6318]

The hyper individualization is probably less due to American influence and more because neoliberalism in general. Did these people mostly grow up during the Thatcher era?

[@Alan_Duval]

Well, they did say the protesters were mostly Boomers, so they were between 15 and 33 at the start of Thatcher's premiership and between 26 and 44 at the end. So, according to some moral psychology research (Jonathan Haidt in his work on the Social Intuitionist Model), people's moral compass is pretty entrenched by the age 15, so, their politics will have already been pretty much cemented before Thatcher affected their lives, unless they were particularly traumatized over that time.

[@CarlosHernandez-dn2ry]

Is due Euclidean Zoning Laws, they got used to it, or even worse, is the only thing they know.

[@scruf153]

I am a conservative U.S.A. and I hate cars on city streets all I want to do is to cycle or walk to places without being killed by a stupid car most every city is too spread out a 5 mile radius is not far but at least 3 miles of it is parking lots

[@knarf_on_a_bike]

I live in neighbourhood where we can walk or bike to everything we need in 15 minutes. And we live across the street from a subway station so we can get downtown in about 20 minutes. We don't own a car. It's a glorious way to live. We are the devil.

[@SupremeLeaderKimJong-un]

Pyongyang is a great example of a fifteen-minute city. A lot of citizens in Pyongyang and the DPRK in general don't own a car, so they heavily rely on transit and bike infrastructure to get around. Pyongyang has twelve trolleybus lines (56.6 km in length), four tram lines (53.5 km in length), a beautiful two-line metro system (22.5 km), green bike lanes have since been constructed on the major thoroughfares so cyclists don't have to go in the car lanes, and the Korean State Railway has multiple stations in the city that connect to the rest of the country, with the main Pyongyang station being the most famous as it's the one where the city's alarm clock (that plays Where Are You, Dear General? at 6 in the morning every day). It's a shame we're never brought up as a good transit city.

[@burgermind802]

North Korea has one of the lowest rates of car ownership in the world. Although the government doesn’t release official stats, the best estimate is that there are fewer than 30,000 vehicles on the road in a country of nearly 24 million people. Private ownership of cars is highly restricted in North Korea. As a result, many North Koreans rely on public transit as their primary means of transportation.

[@albertskoczylas2233]

Dream come true

[@RichardFord07886626395]

DRNL coming to city near you.

[@MajorReservations]

I grew up a 15 minute town. There was a weird protest in the town centre where they were protesting many conspiracies including being against 15 minute cities 😅. Like bruh why you protesting against the convince you already benefit from 🤣

[@kjh23gk]

A lot of the conspiracy theory protesters in Oxford last year were not even from Oxford. They were protesting against a town they didn't live in doing something to improve the lives of the people who lived in that town. It's insane.

[@ianhomerpura8937]

​@@kjh23gk check their backgrounds. Most of them are employees of BP and Shell.

[@addammadd]

Anti-ideological dialogue task list: 1) never have these conversations online. 2) IRL, “that’s interesting, I hadn’t heard that. Which books or articles have you read about this and could you summarize them and tell me their shortcomings?”

[@addammadd]

Need some compression on your voice Mr. Nicholas. Too much dynamics makes it damn near impossible to get my headphones dialed.

[@segue2ant395]

Yes! Thankyou for nailing down the problem, I've been winding my volume up and down wondering what was wrong with my end...

[@zac6x9]

I am glad it was not just me quiet and then loud.

[@jakesecondname2462]

There were a few large audio pops in the ep, e.g. at 54:06

[@lovelydeedee0]

You two talking about fifteen minute cities felt like it only lasted fifteen minutes ❤

[@danspall2315]

I love both of you, so it’s great to have you on together. Main suggestions for next time: - Tom needs to say “like” less. It was very jarring because your scripted videos make you come across as very eloquent, but this podcast was difficult to listen to because you did not communicate your thoughts very well. Lots of “like” and “sort of” and “kinda”. Perhaps consider taking longer to think before you speak, then you can always edit the video down to remove any extended silence. - At least in the beginning, there was a clear delay between you both. This led to Tom cutting off Munecat a few times. Not intentionally I’m sure, but something to work on. - It also seemed as though you did not have an agreed agenda for the call as the order of your conversation was a bit sporadic. I am excited for more episodes and I hope to see you continue to improve :)

[@Doornenstroom]

as someone who lives in the netherlands the backlash to 15 minute cities is so bizarre to me, cause these city plans just kinda look like the average dutch city center

[@RobertShippey]

Annie Kelly’s reporting on the QAnon Anonymous podcast is a very good overview of the Oxford 15min city demo. Munecat covers quite a few of the key points, but I think Annie’s researched it a lot more.

[@johannageisel5390]

Thanks for the info.

[@Marco_Onyxheart]

We've even had people opposing 15-minute cities in the Netherlands. Where every store is already a 15-minute bike ride away. The entire country is a 15-minute city.

[@TryinaD]

People like this are so funny… especially considering how they already reap the benefits

[@JohnAllenRoyce]

Great! Never heard of 15-minute City, thank you for the info. Congrats on your new podcast, happy to subscribe!

[@Lincoln_Bio]

Fascinating insights from Badger

[@jeremyslather]

A dream team I didn't expect. Honeslty it must be easier to collab with people in a more informal format than in a very elaborate video. Great video

[@mrpieceofwork]

It's disturbing to me that although we are so hyper-connected in this modern world, we seemingly cannot simply communicate and have productive dialogues about the things that REALLY matter in our lives... not at least on a scale that makes a real difference. I say this because I write a semi-daily "gemlog" which gets posted to the "web" by way of the Gemini protocol, and I do this because it is just ME, the command line/editor and the tiny server that allows me to do so. I do it because THAT is the way I feel we all should be communicating with our neighbors, in the "off" times that we're not actually conversing/interacting face-to-face IRL. Not "Groups" that are hosted by Big Data, who we know only want to really milk ever last penny from you, if they could. IOW, embrace the "smol web", and TALK TO YOUR NEIGHBORS FFS (and organize, organize, organize)

[@connorsayles9545]

Next door in Cromer (near norwich) is recently people complainh about the emergency alert system test thats going to happen in the UK. They're getting very aggitated about it....Oh and a shit ton of racism. Thats the level.

[@-xirx-]

_iT's SoCiAlISm GoNe MaD!_

[@TomKilworth]

Love the podcast Tom! One small criticism, you say “like”, like, a lot 😂 I’m just not used to it after watching so many of your scripted vids

[@hrford]

I found the "like" detracted from the video so much that I couldn't unhear them so I switched off 😢

[@godfreyozzy7128]

I was going to suggest making a drinking game out of it, but then realised it would be fatal after only two minutes.

[@videogamer596]

What video was Tom talking about where Munecat interviewed the Oxford protestors? I can’t seem to find it.

[@godfreyozzy7128]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/f2iXqXSMppdomc0

[@Will-kt5jk]

1:51 - Badger’s like: “damn, the soundboards not on”

[@nickhadjipateras2944]

Where is munecats 15 minute city video I can't find it on KZbin?

[@meala23]

The video is called 15 minute cities - the weirdest conspiracy to hit the UK, and the channel is called feed the machine

[@adam2802]

Holy shit, you're practically local--that's rad. Meur ras for the great vids/podcasts, idk how I got here but I''m enjoying it!

[@moonyollie6977]

"Local councils, they're so bad at communicating." For real The bit about loads of cars in Oxford, yeah I heard about the number of deaths caused by collisions between cars and bicycles on one specific roundabout.

[@thecommuterzombie]

If Munecat does not own a badger named 'Cat' I am going to be disappointed.

[@SteveDorrans]

DO NOT take a drink every time Tom says "like". I nearly died 20 mins in...

[@astronics]

Excited for this!

[@meala23]

Where is the original video of munecat interviewing people at this demo? I can't find it

[@wendyheatherwood]

Search for 'Feed the Machine' and it should be the second result at the moment.

[@meala23]

Thank you so much Wendy! Weirdly your reply to my question has disappeared now 🤔

[@blub579]

what are these pops for example at 39:48

[@leonardorocha2244]

It may have been my fault for not having seen Munecat's video before tge podcast, but not having heard of the 15-minute cities conspiracy before, I'd argue the podcast didn't explain it really well before diving into the discussion proper. The intro clearly explained the 15 minute city concept, but I'd argue that the most important aspect to understand the conspiracy was the LTNs. For instance, trying to understand it from context clues I jumped from "not letting personal cars leave a residential area" to "not letting cars from 'outside' enter a residential area" to "blocking personal cars from certain areas" and I'm still not sure I know which, if any, of these are the ones beeing used. I don't think the 15 minute city concept itself is that controversial, especially since any restrictions come from the implementation and not the concept. But depending on what the LTNs mean they could be criticized for lots of different things and could have a number of drawbacks, and it just became tiring thinking "what are the positives and negatives of this interpretation of LTNs I just made up and would it help the neighborhood and the world at large?" everytime the context clues pointed to another interpretation of what the LTNs mean. Maybe I'm not the target audience, and maybe I'll be back after reading about and understanding LTNs and will find the episode amazing, but it made for a really underwhelming first episode to the podcast.

[@danielcintz8880]

ear pain at 36:12 btw

[@danielcintz8880]

again at 39:49

[@danielcintz8880]

and at 49:09

[@danielcintz8880]

and 54:05

[@evanblack20]

This would be so simple if the Mayor just came out said this is the problem we’re having (traffic in the historic district) and this is the solution (bypass) do you have any suggestions? It would instantly change from suspicion to problem solving but instead they hide in their offices acting sus instead

[@surfmadpig]

When he interrupted after saying you don't know if Sauron of Akkad is still living in Swindon I thought he would tell us

[@Redarmy1917]

Tom, I love ya mate. But how did those mic pops get missed in editing? Listening with headphones is painful.

[@helmetmcbaron]

Where did Tom Nicholas move from to go to Plymouth?

[@DougWedel-wj2jl]

I had a different idea about LTNs. It does sound like the government over reaching control of residents on travel. Nobody likes to be restricted by government or anyone else. Where possible I like to simplify concepts to lift the fog of confusion on topics. My view before watching this video is the 15 Minute City is a new name on an old approach to reducing car congestion: Reducing VMT, VEHICLE MILES TRAVELLED is another way to say densifying vs suburban sprawl. We put home, work, shopping and entertainment closer together so our trips are shorter. People who ride bicycles start to create their own network around the distance they can go by bike, so they create their own 15 Minute City. It’s reducing car congestion, which all drivers hate. The only way to reduce congestion that involves increasing capacity of our transportation network is increasing LOS, LEVEL OF SERVICE. We add car lanes, for the most part. But lately planners talk about moving people, not just cars. And they see a bike lane can move more people than the car lane beside it, provided you fill it with enough cyclists. When drivers get caught in congestion and look over and see an empty bike lane, they get claustrophobic and say, I need that. We had that space before and I want it back. They fail to see it as a long term plan that serves them.

[@tyranneous]

Carl of Swindon, not Sargon of Akkad. ;)

[@williamevans9709]

One other thing: Oxford is quite dense - at least from an American point of view. There are loads of cities much bigger by population that are low density. Think of Phoenix, Dallas, Las Vegas, Houston, Oklahoma City. Even where I live, in Buffalo, NY, it's sort of dense but kind of sprawled, we have a population density of 6,800/sq/mi and we have about 270,000 people. American cities at the population of Oxford - about 152,000 - sprawl out a lot often. The high population density and compact build of Oxford should be a reason to limit cars in the first place

[@yvobroekhoven972]

Great new concept, great interview... but watch your "likes". Sometimes the word 'like' in one sentence is used more then I can count... Great content though...

[@RoamingAdhocrat]

why isn't this video 1/4 of its run length. this video is four cities-worth

[@tacoaficionado]

Find it really jarring, that the background music is so loud in the intro

[@davidbrown2571]

How about if we move all of our politicians into a 2 mile square area and told them they needed permission to go beyond it.

[@ianhomerpura8937]

How about you travel abroad, see the world beyond the American suburb? Get out of your car, and you know, walk?

[@Alan_Duval]

The predominant definition of freedom in America does seem to be negative freedom (the absence of external constraints on personal decision-making, aka having keys to a car), whereas I think most people recognise positive freedom (conditions necessary to pursue desired opportunities, so, social safety net, free healthcare, etc., etc.) as being superior. Sounds like the people demanding individualistic freedom have, for all that they're parochial Little Englanders, adopted the American definition. I suspect that, like the MAGA crowd, they're predominantly Protestant (but, unlike the US, including Anglican), even if only culturally, and so their concept of freedom is purely negative and, thanks to their preference for hierarchy and authority, they can't even conceptualize positive freedom. It's great to know that Munecat is exactly as nice as she seems in her more scripted videos :D

[@davidagornall]

Surely the problem may come in that zoning areas will highlight social and economic status. It happens now of course but you will get those who will want to discourage mixing of the groups.

[@ianhomerpura8937]

Yep. Most people against the concept are car owning suburbanites. They hate mingling with people poorer than them lol

[@fyrebat404]

oh wow. munecat has a mellow mode

[@barryrobbins7694]

There is a vast common ground that most people on the planet have regarding urban planning. There is a small wealthy percentage of the population that have outsize influence on its implementation. They also have an outsize influence on what information gets to the masses. Transparency is not in their interest because it usually conflicts with the interests of the majority of the population. The only reason it is not a conspiracy is that it is done by legal means. Even “15 Minute City” conspiracy theorists know this. The mistake they make is not realizing that a majority of the population simply wants to live a different way than themselves.

[@TheRepublicOfYhonai]

This is great

[@greatsouthernpansy]

It's really weird to listen to Munecat out of her youtube persona. She seems almost nice :D

[@jackiepie7423]

what you are missing out on is that driving is as fun as a heroine enema. just like a heroine enema driving is very addictive. you are interfering with them getting their next hit right up the bum bum. though a 15 minute city does not prevent you from getting to where you want to go, it does interfere with how you arrive.

[@Gutterman-tn2ry]

Munecat continues to disrespect DJ Badger, how shameful...

[@awandererfromys1680]

Blasting Marley, dancing, drinking, I don't think that the purpose of their demonstration was to demonstrate that 15-minute cities are actually a lot more fun than traffic jams and air pollution. Oh well...

[@Potatoarmy12]

Get Adamsomething on this podcast pls

[@jakesecondname2462]

Hippy values are fairly liable to go reactionary I think.

[@MaxeeG]

If I had the time I'd do a "like" count.

[@oootoob]

If you remove all the likes, it's only 7 minutes long

[@sparky7071]

833 of them according to transcript! LOL

[@Bos_Taurus]

There are ways to stop your self from constantly saying "like". Gets anoying real quick.

[@kozmaz87]

I hope you know that you do say "like"... A LOT! :)

[@emanuellandin7403]

Tuxedo cats rules.

[@IshtarNike]

Conspiracy theorists fail to use Occam's razor. They do a lot of critical thinking but they never learned this one crucial technique.

[@bitodd]

So Münecat is the chiropractor of journalism? 😛

[@noeschall4269]

I like this

[@segue2ant395]

I comment on this! 😅

[@musicdev]

@@segue2ant395I reply on this

[@oootoob]

But do you like, like this?

[@paulsidhuUK]

Tom thank you. I'm about half way through listening in my car and I am enjoying it. The audio does seem to fluctuate at times so it's not always clear what's been said, maybe that will improve over time. It's great you are trying new things.

[@RowieSundog]

This was a great delve into a topic I hadn't heard about! I'd love for similar accessible city planning to come to my neighbourhood

[@8lec_R]

I didn't recognize munecat without the makeup 😅 I spent the first 2 mins of the talk trying to match the two faces in my head, fun talk tho.

[@linmal2242]

What a beautiful affectionate cat. I used to have one like that; so sad he died, and the one now is a cranky bugger but beautiful to look at. I must have put his nose out of joint as a kitten, or something ! Maybe he will 'soften' as he ages? Cheers from Newcastle AUS.

[@MrNavidad]

From 15 minute cities to Davos lol I love the conversation

[@whatthehelliot]

the joke about 10 minute cities as the next step made me think about how small they would go lol. like a one minute city is just how far you can book it down the road in 60 seconds before the police stop u lmao

[@WestYorkshireGREAT]

Too much "LIKE"

[@Azetheros]

DJ Badger won’t be repressed! But in all seriousness, thank you for making this!

[@thomascordery7951]

From your setup, I'd hoped you were going to have one of the Oxford antis on to express their positions. A nice "chat with a friend" as Muni said, but no debate as such. It's a bit disappointing, to be honest. Perhaps the two of you could do a followup with someone who can express their objections to how it's being implemented.

[@ExistenceUniversity]

Capitalists: Let's move to the countryside and start a farm so we can grow our own food and not be so reliant on the market forces, we can exchange those goods and services with our neighbor's goods and services. Socialists: Let's move into a concrete city that allows me to consume anything I wish to buy within 15 minutes of walking. Let's just be fully dependent on the capitalists who are suffering from breathing that clean rural air and god forbid having to drive those big trucks they pretend to love.

[@sallykaley4771]

Whose house will be torn down to put in these services, yours? They can’t keep the power on now, more power use from everything you use? Doesn’t make sense at all.

[@trovestove6886]

Man those conspiracy theories are prophecies lmao

[@antoeledsal]

The crossover I didn't know I needed

[@shodanxx]

15 minute city is anticar rhetoric, that's where the backlash is from.

[@ianhomerpura8937]

What is wrong with that though? Too many people are driving that should NEVER be behind the wheel to begin with. Lots of people driving under the influence of alcohol and other substances nowadays.

[@rotorage4374]

Open air prisons 🖕

[@ianhomerpura8937]

Meh, it is simply going back to pre-1950s town planning.

[@humansvd3269]

Yeah, no thanks to 15 minutes cities.

[@ianhomerpura8937]

Another suburbanite American

[@simononeill941]

Isn't the backlash due to affordability? Who benefits from 15 minute cities, may not be the poor that need to travel there for work.

[@joedowning2428]

Homes should be affordable too

[@awandererfromys1680]

Free public transport. Which is already a thing in over sixty European cities. And also subject of more wacky conspiracies.

[@billyrussell7789]

the point is that you live within 15 minutes of where you work? as in the only people working in the neo our hood are those that live in it? why tf would you travel a long way to get iNTO a 15 minute city?

[@ianhomerpura8937]

Um, those complaining about it are not poor. They have cars, they can afford the high petrol prices.

[@CocolinoFan]

I respectfully disagree. 15-Minute Cities are the Devil.

[@alanboyle6751]

As cool as the Devil? Sweet.

[@Kobolds_in_a_trenchcoat]

could you elaborate? Why are they bad? For my perspective: I understand not wanting to be trapped but that has not happened and no one is floating that as an idea aside from people arguing against it. Honestly, as someone who has not been able to get a license due to severe vision issues, I feel trapped with the lack of public transportation I have in my city (as well as the utter lack of job opportunities here. Unless you plan on working in a restaurant for no more than $15 an hour absolute max, you are driving at least 30 minutes to work in the morning and 30 minutes home at the end of the day).* I can't imagine why having basic services closer together and more readily available could lead to anything except convenient and better for the community and everyone involved. * Not having a license in Texas sucks. Almost nowhere in this state has any public transportation, much less any you can access without driving to it. I just managed to get a job a week ago after a year of searching for a remote position. Having a job within walking distance or some public transportation to get to a job would have literally been life changing.

[@segue2ant395]

"an urban planning concept in which most daily necessities and services, such as work, shopping, education, healthcare, and leisure can be easily reached by a 15-minute walk or bike ride from any point in the city." Point to the bit that hurts.

[@Duke_Sliscus]

Could you explain? I for one like not being forced to drive for long periods of time.

[@jeffreydenenberg7101]

can you show me on the doll where the 15 minute city hurt you?

[@danopticon]

I lived in Oxford for school for a chunk of time, specifically in Jericho - or technically just beyond it, on the other side of Port Meadow - on a barge in Bossom’s Boatyard, and as you noted, the city is ancient and so already intrinsically hostile to vehicle traffic and most easily traveled by bike or on public transportation or on foot. It is a moderately well-off city, but there are more working class areas as you venture up along Cowley Road (although this is also where all the artists and bohemians lived, so I’d be surprised if it hadn’t become gentrified by now), but regardless of income differences the whole city is fairly progressive - probably the most conservative residents would be some of the gownies who plague the Oxford Union Society heckling progressive speakers - so it’s hard for me to picture this conspiracy taking hold or gaining any traction among the locals. I’d support your guess that the protesters were brought in from other areas. Truly this is madness!

[@pranays]

Okay i agree there are insane conspiracy theories but Shakespeare was a known thief. He stole his stage even and clearly plagiarism is much easier than stealing a stage

[@luketorres1408]

Conspiracy facts not theories.. grow up... Another propaganda channel with no audience

[@joanmoriarity8738]

No audience? You're here. Posting comments too. Driving engagement. Bit counterproductive don't you think? Then again, you believe it's bad to live near useful places, so I shouldn't expect too much.