COP 27 – ‘The 15-minute city’: connectivity as driver of carbon reduction.

We do have the necessary alternatives. What is missing are politicians with the necessary radical vision to put these alternatives into practice, declared Alan Simpson at the opening of his fourth talk on how to confront the climate crisis. At the heart of this talk was the question of how can we rethink transport and mobility to overcome our addiction to cars? Ultimately, improved local transport combined in a joined-up system with local energy generation and food production is the way forward.

Paris is a clear example of a ’15-minute city’, the idea that all the necessary shops and services should be reachable within a distance of no more than 15 minutes of transport. Driven by the mayor Ann Hidalgo, Paris is in the process of transforming its local transport network. To move away from car traffic, 70000 parking spaces have been removed and 50 km of cycling only routes developed. No diesel-based cars are allowed by 2024, no fossil fuel cars by 2030. Additionally, the taxi fleet in Paris is going to become completely electric.

Nottingham provides another positive example. Proceeds from the Workplace Parking Levy went into the construction of a new tram network with two lines completed to date. It will be important to expand this network into a whole city network. This solution is not novel. In 1936 Nottingham had already had a much larger tram network. Re-establishing it now is ‘back to the future’. 

Nottingham tram network in 1936: 

The 15-minute city, however, does not only depend on an expansive local transport network. The generation of energy as well as the production of food needs to be integrated. The importance rests on a local joined-up system. For example, in Freiburg/Germany the Sonnenschiff estate generates four times more solar energy than it consumes itself, providing the basis for clean public transport (see also Energy - Back to the Future). Bristol’s bio bus runs on biofuel created from local sewage. Local food production provides another jigsaw of the puzzle, as for example the Lufa farms in Montreal (see Feeding the Future). Local allotments in addition to food production can also contribute to general well being through the revival of links between people and between people and nature. To revive the local economy, commercial rents need to be socialised and, thus, become affordable for small businesses. In short, the more activity takes place locally in an integrated, joined up system the easier it will be to meet the 10 per cent target of annual carbon reduction.

  

Discussions provided a glimpse of what such a future could look like in Nottingham. Why not combine free local transport with an extensive cycle lane network? How about communal eating places as locations for social interaction, food and the learning of cooking skills? Ensuring affordable retail space in the city centre could provide space for Repair Cafés, Surplus Stores and pop-up shops. In general, retail should be brought back from the periphery into the city centre, contributing to the reduction in car traffic. The alternatives are there, now we need the necessary political will to put them into practice.

Andreas Bieler

Professor of Political Economy

University of Nottingham/UK

Andreas.Bieler@nottingham.ac.uk

6 December 2022