Designing shops, schools and public transport near homes sounds like a good idea. So how did urban planning become a new battleground for conspiracy theorists?
” and 15-minute neighbourhoods which prioritise walking, cycling and micromobility .
Concerns about 15-minute cities have reached the British parliament where, in February, Nick Fletcher – a Conservative MP – called for a “debate on the international socialist concept of so-called 15-minute cities and 20-minute neighbourhoods”. “It is Crunch time 2023, really time we go after our councils as they are the ones bringing in the 5G, the Smart Cities, etc.”
“The theory has caught hold because people have had direct recent experience of ‘faceless’ government officialsduring the pandemic,” he says. “When someone says that 15-minute cities aren’t just a benign theory about how lovely it would be if you had everything you needed in walking distance, they’re the next stage of a sinister plot by the new world order to lock you in your homes ... there are some people who are primed to believe it.