A cartoon from the WEF<\/a> just for you good girls and boys:<\/p>\n\n\n\n As climate change and global conflict cause shocks and stresses at faster intervals and increasing severity, the 15-minute city will become even more critical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the solution was the pandemic (they really say that):<\/p>\n\n\n\n The obvious, yet incomplete, answer is the pandemic\u2026. with COVID-19 and its variants keeping everyone home (or closer to home than usual), the 15-minute city went from a \u201cnice-to-have\u201d to a rallying cry. Meeting all of one\u2019s needs within a walking, biking or transit distance was suddenly a matter of life and death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And then the dark hand of the totalitarian managers appears, as James Woudhuysen, warned in Spiked in late October:<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The green agenda is taking inspiration from the illiberal days of lockdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To this end, Oxfordshire County Council, which is run by Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party, wants to divide the city of Oxford into six \u201815 minute\u2019 districts. In these districts, it is said, most household essentials will be accessible by a quarter-of-an-hour walk or bike ride, and so residents will have no need for a car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the surface, these 15-minute neigbourhoods might sound pleasant and convenient. But there is a coercive edge. The council plans to cut car use and traffic congestion by placing strict rules on car journeys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Residents will have to register their cars with the council and they will be tracked to count their journeys through the key gateways. It\u2019s the social credit scheme that starts with your car and works like anti-frequent-flyer points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Under the new proposals, if any of Oxford\u2019s 150,000 residents drives outside of their designated district more than 100 days a year, he or she could be fined \u00a370.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The concept of the 15-minute city was born with \u2018C40<\/a>\u2019. Chaired today by London mayor Sadiq Khan, C40 calls itself a \u2018network of mayors of nearly 100 world-leading cities collaborating to deliver the urgent action needed right now to confront the climate crisis\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It all sounds a bit ridiculous to suggest a lockdown \u201cfor the climate\u201d but listen to the BBC. They\u2019re working awfully hard to persuade us \u2014 they obviously think voters won\u2019t want this. Here they are connecting the \u201c15 Minute City\u201d to the fun of covid lockdowns, and setting this up as though it\u2019s totally normal for the government to decide who your friends are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n And furthermore lockdowns in Paris were great social moments where we all made friends. Who knew how much fun it would be to be told you couldn\u2019t drive far?<\/p>\n\n\n\n .. for Fraioli, the two-month lockdown that began on 17 March \u2013 confining her to a 1km radius of her home \u2013 gave her a nuanced, enriching view of her neighbourhood. \u201cI discovered it\u2019s possible to feel like you\u2019re in a small village in Paris,\u201d she says. \u201cTo get to know your neighbours, to maintain good links with shopkeepers, to favour local craftsmen and shops over large supermarkets. I even joined a citizens\u2019 movement where people prepare food baskets for homeless people. I thought I would have a hard time living the lockdown, but I was perfectly at home, in a quiet place.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n I don\u2019t seem to recall \u201cgetting to know neighbours\u201d as being part of any lockdown anywhere?<\/p>\n\n\n\n And lookout \u2014 the 15 minute city<\/em> is not just Oxford, but turning up in Brisbane<\/a>, Melbourne<\/a>, Barcelona, Paris, Portland and Buenos Aires<\/a>. It\u2019s everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/otc-com.dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/15-minute-cities.un_.wef_.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nIn the WEF\u2019s own words<\/a> \u2014 this rearrangement of cities is absolutely about climate change:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
The madness of the \u201815-minute city\u2019<\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Climate lockdowns? Seriously<\/em>?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How \u201915-minute cities\u2019 will change the way we socialise<\/a><\/h4>\n\n\n\n