How close are you to achieving a 20-minute neighbourhood?
07/19/2021
The 20-minute neighbourhood - or similarly, the ’15 minute city’ - is a relatively recent concept in urban planning, and is generating increasing interest as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to disrupt traditional living and working patterns.
The concept is deceptively simple – neighbourhoods should be compact, connected places, where people live in close proximity to a range of services that meet their needs, ideally within a short walk. 20-minute neighbourhoods exist the world over (see boxout), and typically focus on objectives such as:
- Improving health and wellbeing by encouraging physical activity, including walking and cycling
- Improving social cohesion and reducing isolation, by creating neighbourhoods where people can choose to live their whole lives, because the needs of all age groups and life stages are accommodated
- Supporting local economies, for example by making shopping areas more attractive and accessible
- Improving air quality, and climate resilience and mitigation, by reducing reliance on fossil fuels for road transport
In practice, building towards the 20-minute neighbourhood can involve a wide variety of measures, such as making changes to the road network to prioritise pedestrians, or creating multi-purpose ‘hubs’, that house services such as healthcare facilities, nurseries and libraries, in a single location with good sustainable transport links.
20-minute neighbourhoods encourage a holistic view of sustainable development
While there are many reasons why the 20-minute neighbourhood concept is gathering momentum, the sustainability benefits are undoubtedly a key part of its appeal. Around one-fifth of UK greenhouse gas emissions come from road transport, therefore creating more walkable environments that reduce reliance on cars can help towards climate change mitigation.
As we outlined in our recent whitepaper, Sustainability in a changing built environment: Rethinking sustainable construction and development, the 20-minute neighbourhood concept is particularly valuable because it encourages a more holistic view of sustainability. Often, conversations about sustainable development focus on individual property features, for example the energy efficiency of buildings, or the construction methods and materials used.
While these aspects matter, of course, it is equally important where properties are built, and how well connected they are to important services. If a development is built in such a way that the properties meet net-zero construction and energy efficiency criteria, but the site is difficult to access using sustainable transport options, or if there aren’t safe spaces to store bicycles, or if pavements, pathways and street lights are not maintained in a way that encourages walking, the sustainability advantages achieved at an individual property level could be undermined. The 20-minute neighbourhood concept encourages consideration of all these interconnected factors together.
The barriers to 20-minute neighbourhoods – and how they can be overcome
While it is one thing to support the notion of more compact, connected communities, actually developing a 20-minute neighbourhood creates a range of challenges, not least the need for meaningful collaboration between a diverse set of stakeholders with responsibility for the built environment – including local authorities, housing associations, developers, businesses, and community and voluntary groups.
The Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) has outlined 10 principles for success, based on analysis of well-established 20-minute neighbourhood models from across the globe.
These include:
- Having a compelling, clearly communicated vision, and empowering communities to take an active role in decision-making. In Paris, for example, 25% of the city’s budget has been delegated to local communities to invest in their areas as they see fit.
- Basing decisions on detailed research, data, and analysis. The TCPA recommends comprehensive data-gathering, “including a robust data-led spatial analysis of the network of roads and paths, and a mapping of the location and condition of assets such as shops, parks and schools.” It also suggests qualitative research with local residents “to discover what works, what does not, and how they would like the place to change for the better.”
- Partnership and advocacy – the TCPA says that “building partnerships across departments within councils and between local communities, developers, housing associations and other stakeholders is crucial”. It cites the example of Ipswich, where strong partnerships between the local authority, and business and education leaders has led to the creation of a strategy for Ipswich to become a ‘15-minute town’.
- Turning ideas into policy – the TCPA encourages local authorities to use planning tools and documents, such as Corporate Plans, Masterplans and Local Plans, to integrate 20-minute neighbourhood ideals into planning policy. This is already happening in a handful of towns and cities across the world. In Melbourne, for example, local councils are required to conform with the State of Victoria’s Plan Melbourne, and must embed 20-minute neighbourhood hallmarks into their own planning policies.
Find out more about the 20-minute neighbourhood
The TCPA’s guide to 20-minute neighbourhoods includes detailed case studies showing how the model has worked effectively in other countries.
Our whitepaper, Sustainability in a changing built environment: Rethinking sustainable construction and development, also discusses the 20-minute neighbourhood concept, and offers tips and guidance to help organisations build a more holistic view of sustainable development.
20-minute neighbourhoods: examples from around the world
Portland
The US city of Portland was among the pioneers of planning policy on 20-minute neighbourhoods. It began working on the concept in 2006 following calls from local residents to make their city more walkable and provide better access to local services. A key part of Portland’s approach has been to retrofit lower-density residential areas to include neighbourhood centres, where commercial and community services and higher-density housing are located, serving as hubs for pedestrian, cycling, and transit networks.
Melbourne
Melbourne’s rapid population growth and its abundance of sprawling, low-density residential development, has led to increasing levels of physical inactivity in the city. The Victoria State Government has implemented Plan Melbourne to address this challenge. A programme of community feedback and technical assessments highlighted opportunities to create 20-minute neighbourhoods, including reviewing bus routes, making streetscape improvements, and setting up safe walk-to-school programmes.
Paris
Paris has been introducing measures to support the vision of a ’15-minute city’ since 2014, with objectives including tackling climate change and air pollution, reducing inequalities and improving social cohesion. Specific projects have included work to transform the motorway network and the ring road (the Périphérique) in order to improve access, support active mobility, and enhance urban greening.
United Kingdom
While the 20-minute neighbourhood concept is less well established in the UK, this is beginning to change. In June 2021, Edinburgh City Council discussed a high-level strategy for 20-minute neighbourhoods, with 19 areas in and around the city to be prioritised. And in March, Ipswich unveiled plans to become the UK’s first ’15-minute town’, with proposals to make the town’s key features, including its station, central park and square, more accessible within a short walk.
