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Elysium Hosack
Capstone Period 2
Mr. Gotberg
24 May 2023
Walkable Cities and Benefits to Communities
Following the Second World War, the development of infrastructure for road vehicles
exploded as veterans returned home and sought to start life. Additionally, the federal government
unveiled and began construction of the interstate highway system, which initially was funded as
a strategic project for the military. Now, more than 70 years later, the United States and other
countries have found themselves entirely built for the car. Suburban and urban areas alike have
reached a point so unfriendly to pedestrians that action is needed to reverse this direction and
bring people back to the streets. So-called “15-minute cities” are some of the most compelling
solutions, seeking to make communities more livable and to bring necessities closer together.
However, there stands in its way archaic zoning policies, decades of poor infrastructure
decisions, public spending concerns, and even conspiracy theories. Though critics baselessly
argue it has the potential to limit personal freedoms, the social, environmental, and economic
benefits of cities designed for people over cars far outweigh theoretical negatives and have
already proven themselves in this country and elsewhere.
The automobile as a mode of transportation is not just one of the least efficient, but
outright harmful options developed. Since the 1950s with the introduction of the Federal-Aid
Highway Act, nearly every urban area in the United States saw new development heavily
oriented toward the automobile. Most new residential properties were single-family homes on
new developments situated away from city centers and downtowns, often requiring driving an
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automobile on an expressway to get to shopping, employment opportunities, and other
day-to-day necessities. This new suburban development pattern leads to lower density, and
conversely, lower tax revenue and business revenue for the same amount of land as if it were
more dense. Chuck Marohn, the founder of the advocacy group Strong Towns, warns that this
style of city leads to a municipal “growth ponzi-scheme” as more and more new low-density
developments are needed to financially support the prior developments. Meanwhile, the need for
these new spread-out developments acts as a feedback loop causing further car-centric
infrastructure. City design needs a reboot ― it’s not sustainable to build our places in a way that
is inherently less livable.
Walkable cities bring social benefits through improvements to community physical and
mental health as well as improvements to One key feature of the 15-minute city is the idea that
streets need to accommodate more modes of transportation. These “complete streets” bring
together walking, biking, public transit, and in many cases, automobiles, too, into a safe union on
the same right-of-way (Marohn 23). Complete streets, by encouraging healthier lifestyles and
types of developments more easily accessed without a car, improve community social and
physical health. Walking by itself is associated with improved mental health; among older
populations, a strong negative correlation is shown between walking and depression symptoms
later in life. Abdulla Baobeid also remarks that “the ability to engage in a physical activity such
as walking compensates for the diminishing sense of control and dwindling roles for older
people” (Baobeid et al.) Walkability is not only associated with psychological benefits for older
portions of the population: the comprehensive city design study Cities Alive investigated general
mental health patterns against walkability. In places where people were able to walk 8.6 minutes
per day, people were 33% less likely to report depression symptoms (Claris et al. 37). In the way
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of physical health, Cities Alive also found that people who walked just 15 minutes a day were
22% less likely to suffer an early death and are 4.8% less likely to develop obesity per kilometer
walked (Claris et al. 35). The 15-minute city concept also seeks to develop urban places where
all of a person’s needs, including shopping, social places, and one’s place of employment are
within a 15-minute walk or bike-ride from where they live (Moreno et al. 97). Having a job
within walking or biking distance, as should be the case in a 15-minute city, is linked to higher
satisfaction with said job or career. Studies have found that someone making an hour-long
commute would need to have a 40% higher salary to be as satisfied with their job as someone
who can walk to their place of work (Claris et al. 37). Additionally, another effect of walkability
can be seen in the “eyes on the street” effect, a term coined by author and urbanist Jane Jacobs.
She wrote that “the buildings on a street [should be] equipped to handle strangers and to insure
the safety of both residents and strangers, [and] must be oriented toward the street” (Jacobs). By
returning the streets to the people and using them as walkable public spaces, the “natural
proprietors of the street,” or the people who use it, also serve to promote a sense of security.
People feel the presence of the community around them, and both crime and worries of potential
crime fall in neighborhoods with this effect.
15-minute cities also are promoted in an effort to reduce the environmental impact of
urban areas. Globally, road transportation, which includes automobiles, busses, trucking, and
other rubber-tire transportation, accounts for 11.9% of total greenhouse gas emissions. Producing
almost 5.9 billion tonnes of CO2 each year, road vehicles are doing real, measurable damage to
the environment (Ritche et al.). As such, efforts should be made to attempt to reduce automobile
usage however necessary. Reviewing a study conducted in the United Kingdom that investigated
“short car trips,” or excursions by car less than 3 miles in length, it was determined that 42% of
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these short trips could feasibly be replaced by walking or cycling, representing over 10% of all
car trips taken during the study period (Baobeid et al.). Additionally, more efficient forms of
transportation could also supplement these short trips, such as regular bus or streetcar services,
which carry more passengers and can be electrified. Finding ways to get this 10% of cars off the
road is vital to reduce the damage to the environment our urban and suburban areas currently do.
Walkable infrastructure also lends itself to another major environmental improvement ― the heat
island effect. According to the EPA, heat islands occur when buildings, pavement, and other
man-made structures absorb solar energy and reradiate it in an unnatural way. This is often due to
a lack of foliage and other greenery, sometimes removed to make room for wider roads. At the
core of the issue is that the lack of greenery also makes streets far less friendly to pedestrians;
when the road you walk on is hotter than ambient, it can be uncomfortable or even dangerous for
people already at risk to navigate. Thanks to plants’ green coloring and higher albedo, returning
foliage and tree cover to our cities would reflect more heat from the sun and reduce temperatures
near the ground, helping to make the streets more habitable for the people who live and walk
there. In the cities of the future, environmental concerns need to be taken into account, and
walkability and sustainability go hand in hand.
Of significant importance to much of the United States are the economic benefits
15-minute cities can bring to communities. Walkable cities tend to have higher density and easier
pedestrian access to stores, restaurants, and other businesses. As such, benefits to municipalities
through increased tax revenue in addition to more sustainable businesses can be observed in such
areas. Along Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority commuter lines, new stations that receive
state funding are required to have “transit-oriented development,” which prioritizes projects
which increase density within walking distance of the station. One such station, located in
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Westwood, MA, saw tax revenue from the area triple per acre as the new developments began to
open (Gunderson). Prior to the construction of the train station, the property, and surrounding
area were occupied by a low-density business park built in the 1980s, a common sight for
suburban communities located between large urban centers. Improving the walkability of a town
through new mixed-use developments has the potential to bring in far more revenue for
municipalities. Walkability also improves the performance of businesses in walkable areas. After
municipal improvements to pedestrian facilities, vacancy rates fall and foot traffic, revenue, and
sales tax revenue all increase in such places: research sponsored by the Robert Woods Johnson
Foundation determined that along an improvement district in Lodi, CA, sales tax revenue
increased by 30% and vacancy rates dropped from 18% to just 6%. 60 new businesses, both
customer-facing and not, were attracted to the area (Hack 11). When municipal efforts are made
to improve the walkability of a street or neighborhood, businesses benefit from increased foot
traffic and sales volume increases. Municipalities see a return on investment through increased
sales tax revenue. These improvements are affirmed through businesses moving to these areas
and pedestrians visiting them over spaces less accessible on foot.
A handful of arguments against the 15-minute city concept have been growing over the
last several years, but many of them are unfounded, unlikely to be true, or just fearmongering
that needed a supposed perpetrator. Originally penned by Carlos Moreno, the 15-minute city was
laid out as a way to “complete” neighborhoods and cities as a whole, bringing all of the
necessities people traveled for closer to them, ideally within a 15-minute walk or bike ride.
However, at the beginning of this year, a number of internet forum users began suggesting, with
much media attention, that the 15-minute city concept existed to “restrict people from leaving
their zone of living” and that “The UN and the WEF want people sectioned off and categorized
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like cattle on a farm” (Miri.P). Many of these conspiracy theories arose in the months during and
following the US’s COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, likely as an answer to what some people
saw as an overreach of the government in requiring people to stay at home at the height of the
dangerous virus. Some target Moreno’s paper specifically, and it comes at a cost to the new
urbanist movement as those unaware of what 15-minute cities actually aim to do can be
concerned by the inflammatory language used to promote these theories. Speaking with USA
Today, Moreno reminded the public that “while the focus is on enhancing the local environment,
it does not imply that residents would be discouraged or prohibited from leaving their city”
(McCrary). 15-minute cities are being developed to alleviate the necessity of cars, but not to
restrict people to only walking. The communities benefit from greater access to goods and
services in their communities and are not trapped nor sectioned off, despite what is suggested by
these uninformed internet posts.
Overall, the benefits of walkable cities are many; in today’s uncertain world, stability
and sustainability are of vital importance for the places we live in. We need to build our cities to
be lived in, not just driven in, and this process can begin now, anywhere. Through the
improvements to social and mental health, economic growth for both municipalities and
businesses, and more environmentally friendly developments that de-emphasize the car,
walkability has the potential to bring good to communities all over our country.
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Works Cited
Allam, Zaheer, et al. "The Theoretical, Practical, and Technological Foundations of the
15-Minute City Model: Proximity and Its Environmental, Social and Economic
Benefits for Sustainability." Energies, vol. 15, no. 16, 20 Aug. 2022, p. NA.
Gale Academic OneFile, https://doi.org/10.3390/en15166042. Accessed 2 Feb.
2023.
Baobeid, Abdulla, et al. "Walkability and Its Relationships With Health, Sustainability,
and Livability: Elements of Physical Environment and Evaluation Frameworks."
Frontiers in Built Environment, vol. 7, 30 Sept. 2021. Frontiers,
https://doi.org/10.3389/fbuil.2021.721218. Accessed 22 Feb. 2023.
Bibri, Simon Elias. "A Novel Model for Data-Driven Smart Sustainable Cities of the
Future: The Institutional Transformations Required for Balancing and
Advancing the Three Goals of Sustainability." Energy Informatics, vol. 4, no. 1,
Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 5 Mar. 2021. Crossref,
https://doi.org/10.1186/s42162-021-00138-8.
Claris, Susan, et al. Cities Alive: Towards a Walking World. London, ARUP, June 2016.
ARUP,
www.arup.com/perspectives/publications/research/section/cities-alive-towards-a
-walking-world. Accessed 2 Mar. 2023.
Clark, Zinnia. "RETROFITTING SUBURBIA." Alternatives Journal, vol. 26, no. 3,
summer 2000, p. 19. Gale Academic OneFile,
link.gale.com/apps/doc/A63837771/AONE?u=s0565&sid=bookmark-AONE&x
id=9353c3d0. Accessed 22 Feb. 2023.
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Deweerdt, Sarah. "The Urban Downshift: Transporting People around the Cities of the
Future Is a Public-policy Challenge, but It's Also an Opportunity to Improve the
Health of Urban Populations." Nature, vol. 531, nos. 7594 S1, 17 Mar. 2016, p.
S52+. Gale Academic OneFile,
link.gale.com/apps/doc/A446637897/AONE?u=s0565&sid=bookmark-AONE&
xid=33875a86. Accessed 2 Feb. 2023.
Dovey, K., & Pafka, E. "What is walkability? The urban DMA." Urban Studies, vol. 57
no. 1, 5 Feb, 2019, pp. 93–108. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098018819727
Florida, Richard. "Walkability Is Good for You." Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, 11 Dec.
2014,
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-12-11/walkability-is-good-for-y
ou.
Gunderson, Kristin. "On Track to Success: Transit-oriented Development Attracts Real
Estate Investors, along with Retail Tenants and Customers." Journal of Property
Management, vol. 72, no. 4, July-Aug. 2007, p. 22+. Gale Academic OneFile,
link.gale.com/apps/doc/A166995609/AONE?u=s0565&sid=bookmark-AONE&
xid=0cdc2db3. Accessed 24 Feb. 2023.
Hack, Gary. Business Performance in Walkable Shopping Areas. Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation, Nov. 2013. Active Living Research,
activelivingresearch.org/sites/activelivingresearch.org/files/BusinessPerformanc
eWalkableShoppingAreas_Nov2013.pdf. Accessed 22 Feb. 2023.
Hankey, Steve et al. "Health impacts of the built environment: within-urban variability
in physical inactivity, air pollution, and ischemic heart disease mortality."
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Environmental health perspectives vol. 120,2 (2012): 247-53.
https://doi.org/10.1289%2Fehp.1103806.
Marohn, Charles L. Confessions of a Recovering Engineer: Transportation for a Strong
Town. Hoboken, John Wiley and Sons, 2021.
McCrary, Elanor. “Erroneous claim '15-minute cities' mimics 'Hunger Games' | Fact
check.” USA Today, 19 May 2023,
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2023/05/19/fact-check/7021892
2007/. Accessed 24 May 2023.
miri.p.swiss.truths. "It seems the coming 15 Minute A.I. controlled Smart Cities will be
somewhat similar to the Hunger Games and the Thirteen Districts. In the Hunger
Games series and novels, the US was sectioned off and split into Thirteen
Districts. The different districts were assigned different jobs to support the
Capitol and the higher class. People were not allowed to talk with other district
members and they could not leave their own districts. Just like the 15 Minute
cities today will restrict people from leaving their zone of living, and people will
be giving tasks to support the NWO society, and you will probably own nothing
and not be happy. The UN and the WEF want people sectioned off and
categorized like cattle on a farm because they want to control every aspect of our
life and monitor every bit of 'carbon' we use to help 'global warming' Yet it is
really about building up their own wealth and oppressing us in every way and
eventually replacing us with robots and an A.I controlled society once the surf
class of peasants die off in a real life hunger Games scenario that has been
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orchestrated by the hidden hand of the Luciferian Elite." Instagram, 13 May
2023, www.instagram.com/p/CsM5y72OD7h/.
Cited as a primary source. The information contained within this
Instagram post is factually incorrect and is used as an example of a
conspiracy theory against the 15-minute city concept.
Moreno, Carlos, et al. "Introducing the '15-Minute City': Sustainability, Resilience and
Place Identity in Future Post-Pandemic Cities." Smart Cities, vol. 4, no. 1, Jan.
2021, pp. 93–111. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities4010006.
Ritchie, Hannah, et al., compilers. CO₂ and Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Our World in
Data, 2020. Our World in Data,
ourworldindata.org/co2-and-greenhouse-gas-emissions.
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Longitudinal Analysis of Pedestrian Flows and Development Activity in
Melbourne." PLoS ONE, vol. 16, no. 9, 21 Sept. 2021, p. e0257534. Gale
Academic OneFile,
link.gale.com/apps/doc/A676312377/AONE?u=s0565&sid=bookmark-AONE&
xid=f72c44f0. Accessed 2 Feb. 2023.
Steuteville, Robert. "Ten social benefits of walkable places." Public Square: A CNU
Journal, edited by Robert Steuteville, Congress for the New Urbanism, 12 Aug.
2021,
www.cnu.org/publicsquare/2021/08/12/we-shape-our-cities-and-then-they-shape
-us. Accessed 2 Feb. 2023.
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Yeung, Peter. "How '15-minute cities' will change the way we socialise." BBC Worklife,
British Broadcasting Corporation, 4 Jan. 2021,
www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20201214-how-15-minute-cities-will-change-theway-we-socialise. Accessed 27 Jan. 2023.