What gives - is this a real thing? I see a lot of buzz on social media with obscure videos pointing to China. The undertone is it’s coming to the west.

What is the '15-minute city' conspiracy theory?


Mon 27 Feb 2023


There are two very different views of the "15-minute city" idea.

To some, it's an urban planning concept that promotes sustainable and healthy living.

To a small group of others, it's a plot by "tyrannical bureaucrats" to take our cars and control our lives, which could lead to a real-life Hunger Games scenario.

After outlandish claims about lizard people, 5G and COVID-19 vaccines, conspiracy theorists are now targeting the world of urban planning, with protests against the 15-minute city concept springing up around the globe.

"I've been doing [urban planning] for a long time, but I've never seen something like this," urbanist and Vancouver's former chief planner Brent Toderian tells ABC RN's Blueprint For Living.

Toderian, who has lobbied for the idea internationally including in Australia, sums up: "It's a bit surreal."

What is it?

The 15-minute city is an urban planning concept where neighbourhoods provide residents with the basic things they need — shops, schools, parks, leisure options, health care — within a 15-minute radius by foot or bike.

"We used to have 15-minute cities as the norm. They were called good neighbourhoods — where you didn't have to get into a car for everything," Toderian says.

From mid-last century, cities have largely been planned around cars, at the expense of walking and biking, which has often resulted in car dependency and urban sprawl.

The 15-minute city is presented as one possible remedy for this.

There are so many public interest reasons to want to do this. It's kind of a no-brainer," Toderian says.

"Your carbon footprint is a lot lower, so it's a powerful climate change mitigation tool … It promotes urban health and thus promotes the actual reduction of public health costs … It promotes individual affordability and household affordability because you don't need to own the second car or maybe even the third car."

Many cities have taken up the idea — or a variation of the idea — in recent years.

"Melbourne was one of the world's originators of the idea of applying time to our neighbourhoods – the amount of time it takes for us to get to the thing that we need or want every day," Toderian points out, something the city continues to embrace.

The idea has been called many things, like "complete communities", "mixed-use communities", "the city of short distances", the slightly different "20-minute neighbourhood" or as Toderian, as chief planner of Vancouver, used to call it "the power of nearness".

But the 15-minute city really came to global prominence when Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo made it a big part of her 2020 re-election campaign. For her, pedestrian and cycle-centred design was the future. She was re-elected.

"Cities around the world — mayors, politicians — started talking about this very old, normal concept of why do we have to drive to everything? Why can't we have more choices and more freedom to choose rather than just having only one choice: The car," Toderian says.
So cities started to draw up plans and implement different versions of the 15-minute city concept, with increased bike lanes, pedestrianising areas, cutting down on where cars can go.

As NSW minister Rob Stokes put it last year: "The pandemic has seen demand for walking and cycling infrastructure soar, and outdoor spaces valued more than ever. Our vision for 15-minute neighbourhoods will also improve health and wellbeing outcomes, and ensure local communities thrive."

But then the pushback started.

From 'small lies' to 'big lies'

Much of the pushback against the 15-minute city concept is rooted in fiction rather than fact.

The claims start with the idea that limiting car use is government overreach and an attack on individual freedom (even though, as Toderian says "ironically, it's providing more choice").

And from there, it gets, well, weird.

Anger at the 15-minute city concept has spilled from the internet to protests in several cities.(Getty Images: Martin Pope)
Limiting cars and promoting pedestrian or bike access is framed as a slippery slope to government-run, open-air prisons.

One British TikToker says authorities are planning to "divide up towns, cities etc … and you're going to have to apply for a f**king permit to leave your zone".

Spoiler: Not true.

According to a tweet from controversial Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson: "The idea that neighbourhoods should be walkable is lovely. The idea that idiot tyrannical bureaucrats can decide by fiat where you're 'allowed' to drive is perhaps the worst imaginable perversion of that idea — and, make no mistake, it's part of a well-documented plan."

What "plan"? The 15-minute city concept has also been promoted by the World Economic Forum, leading to claims that it's part of a global scheme around centralisation and control.

"The lies range from small lies — like 'they're going to not want you to drive [at all]' — to big lies — literally using terms like 'they want to turn your neighbourhood into a concentration camp' that 'your life is going to be like the Hunger Games, where there's different sectors that you'll be representing'," Toderian says.

It's even made it into UK parliament, with one MP calling the idea an "international socialist concept" that "will cost us our personal freedom".

Death threats and protests

These sentiments have led to real-life protests.

For example, Edmonton in Canada recently embraced 15-minute city plans, which, according to the city, "moves us closer to our vision for a more connected, prosperous, healthy and climate-resilient city".

The plan has triggered protests, with organisers incorrectly claiming "you will spend 90 per cent of your life in this 15-minute area as they are monitoring your 'carbon footprint'".

The UK city of Oxford is trying to curb car use ON some roads, enforced by traffic cameras and fines. This triggered protests against so-called "climate lockdowns" and councillors there have received death threats.

One Oxford protest, which attracted thousands of people, featured a speech by a 12-year-old girl who warned against the "dangers" of the plan.

"[They are] soon to become digital ID facial recognition zones … How dare you steal my childhood and my future, and the future of our children, by enslaving us in your crazy digital surveillance prison."

Planning our towns and cities

Toderian is one of many in the urban planning world who have been fighting back in recent months.

The more he talks about the ongoing reactions to the 15-minute city concept, the more exasperated he gets.

"They know that the more outrageous the lie, the more attention they get … A lie gets a lot more attention than the rational truth," he says.

The biggest casualty may be rational community discussion around the future of towns and cities.

"I'm not an anti-car guy. I'm an anti-car-dependency guy. We can't keep planning cities and regions where the car is the only choice, because that may seem like freedom to some but it's kind of the opposite. Dependency is never freedom," Toderian says.

"There's always going to be debate in city planning. Always. But there's good faith debate, based on disagreements, and then there's deliberate lies and misinformation.

"If we're going to have real debate, discussion and democracy, and good decision making, truth is a necessity — it's a necessary starting point to make good decisions."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-27/ ... /102015446

Dear KFH,

Does tbis Chat GPT comment mirror the article?

"IMO, and an unexpected and welcome outcome,
this will eventually bring us back to localities and friends, neighbors, and community. If you can only trust what your own eyes and ears see and hear from a live in-person interaction, then this is a win for all of us."

Seems yes but the conclusion differs as they did not emphasize the bonus of more community...less outside influence...a win for me...ypu?

mom and pop stores can return?

@Kung-fu Hillbilly that’s a great article thanks.

I like it as an urban planning concept - most of us would.

The people most opposed see this tied into a social credit situation that limits your movements and even purchases.

Is this what is happening in China anywhere? People are pointing there.

Phnom Krom wrote: ↑Thu Apr 20, 2023 9:56 pm Dear KFH,

Does tbis Chat GPT comment mirror the article?

"IMO, and an unexpected and welcome outcome,
this will eventually bring us back to localities and friends, neighbors, and community. If you can only trust what your own eyes and ears see and hear from a live in-person interaction, then this is a win for all of us."

Seems yes but the conclusion differs as they did not emphasize the bonus of more community...less outside influence...a win for me...ypu?

mom and pop stores can return?

The article above offers two differing opinions behind the motivations for creating 15 Minute Cities - one from educated, informed, environmentally conscious urban architects, the other from a small minority who believe this urban plan is just another way the lizard people, the nazis, the commie dems etc are going to control everyone and take away their freedoms, just like Hitler did. Kitchen chairs in the houses will probably have special high chairs where children will be restrained while they're raped and the adrenaline produced then main-veined by Hillary "Lock Her Up" Clinton and her friends - who are really Lizard people controlled remotely by Aliens using the COVID virus and 5G.

Hope this helps.

I don't know. I don't pick political sides. One side turns out to be just as rotten as the other and they've got quite a few people who used to get along a few years ago at each others throats these days. It seems to me that quite a few of the so-called conspiracy theories that have arisen in the past few years have turned out to be the actual truth.

Bongmab69 wrote: ↑Fri Apr 21, 2023 12:44 am Thats also why i dont want to be more then 15 minutes away from 118 street when i rent an appartement or choos a hotel . . .
Good rule imo !!

Fat chance of that. I believe Street 118 is also controlled by the lizard people.

It seems 15 minute cities are only the concern of people who see a a future that includes systems of human control like China's Social Credit system. This future will require digital passports - perhaps a microchip that includes your identity and banking information. The control would be related to a points system where you are earning points by staying inside certain boundaries, going to certain stores, and buying certain things. And if you stray, you can lose points or earn demerits which could result in hardship. This system is entirely possible to acheive and is in fact a reality in China already. This article explainc that the covid passports etc was just a test, and most people happily complied. It is also the work of the WEF, and they are not shy in sharing their dysstopian wishes for the new world order. It is in plain sight.

It will be ushered in because of the climate emergency that they and all their young leaders program (who are at the help of most western nations) graduates begin every sentence with. Responsible citizens will comply out of a sense of duty to their fellow man and the world.

You think it wont happen to you - until it does.

Article below:

By Jan Jekielek and Naveen Athrappully
The Epoch Times
May 1, 2023

Christine Anderson, a member of the European Parliament, believes that COVID passports and QR codes that became widespread during the pandemic were only test runs for implementing “15-minute cities” aimed at tightening government control over people.

A 15-minute city is a neighborhood where a resident can reach everything they need, like a grocery store, doctor, and so forth within a 15-minute walk. According to Anderson, such cities are the beginning of tighter government control of people. The administration can exert control by deciding “you are no longer allowed to leave your 15-minute immediate area. They don’t have to fence it in or anything. It will be done via digital ID,” she said in an interview with Jan Jekielek’s “American Thought Leaders” program published on April 25.

“If you now fancy another store and it does not happen to be in your neighborhood, guess what? You won’t be going to that store anymore. Like I said, total control is what we’re talking about.”

RELATED COVERAGE
15-Minute Cities Are ‘Complete Impoverishment and Enslavement of All the People’: EU LawmakerChristine Anderson: From 15-Minute Cities to Climate Lockdowns, the Onslaught of Digital Tyranny
In Europe, legislation is being pushed forward to set up 15-minute cities. According to Anderson, the Digital Green Certificate, the COVID pass introduced during the pandemic, was only a test run designed to get people used to producing a QR code and related requirements.

“Now, they’re slamming us with these 15-minute cities. Make no mistake, it’s not about your convenience. It’s not that they want you to be able to have all of these places that you need to get to close by. It’s not about saving the planet either,” Anderson said.

“With the 15-minute cities, they will have to have those before they can lock you down, and that’s what we were talking about here.”

“In Great Britain, some counties have already passed legislation. They will be able to impose a climate lockdown. That’s the next step. That’s what we are talking about. In order to do that, they will have to have these 15-minute cities.”

The next step, Anderson says, will involve restricting people within their localities, only allowing them to leave the place two or three times a year. However, the rich will be able to get away with these rules as they can buy off exit passes from the poorer segments, she stated.

“The poor people will be left in these 15-minute neighborhoods while the ones that are better off get to go wherever they want to go. This is what we are talking about.”

An article featured on the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) website in March last year called the concept of 15-minute cities “a lot more than a fad” and a consequence of the current times, specifically the pandemic.

“With COVID-19 and its variants keeping everyone home (or closer to home than usual), the 15-minute city went from a ‘nice-to-have’ to a rallying cry,” it claimed, adding, “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.”

Digital Tyranny
Anderson pointed out that Chinese communist-style “social credit” systems are already being tested out in Europe. “There are pilot projects already going on in Bologna. There, it’s called the ‘Bologna Wallet.’ In Vienna, it’s called the ‘Vienna Token.'”

“It’s voluntary for now, and it’s only pretty much enticing people. If you do this, you get some tickets for a little less, to go to the theater. Voluntary. Once again, [it’s the] first step,” she said.

“But soon, there will be a time when you don’t have a choice anymore. You have to have this Digital Green Certificate with this QR code. Then, they will tell you where you can go, what you can do, and what you cannot do.”

Anderson criticized “The Line” project being constructed in Saudi Arabia. A 200-kilometer-long, 200-meter-wide, 500-meter-high structure, The Line is projected to house up to 9 million people.

“If I wanted to get total control of the people, that’s exactly where and how I would house them, and then, have them on a three-meal-a-day prescription. Guess what will happen if you do not do as you are told—they will probably cancel those meals. It’s so easy,” she said.

“That’s what we’re talking about. When you really take all of this together, there is no other way for me to actually say this—it will be a complete impoverishment and enslavement of all the people. I’m stating it so clearly because that’s what it seems like, and that’s what it looks like to me.”

The concept of 15-minute cities is drawing heated debate on social media. When documentary maker Carla Francome posted a thread in February about the benefits of such cities, it soon attracted criticism.

One person suggested that though 15-minute cities sound great in theory, it would become a problem once the government tries to enforce it.

Another pointed out that if 15-minute cities were to become a reality, Francome would have to take a special permit to visit her father if he was living 30 minutes away from her.

“One day, you’ll be trapped in your 15 minute city, waiting for a drone to deliver your sweet and sour bugs and trying to remember what it was like to be on holiday,” author Lisa Keeble said in an April 22 tweet. “You’ll ask yourself- when did it all go wrong. When you applauded lockdowns and masks.”

Government Fearmongering
Anderson also highlighted the fearmongering employed by governments to control people during the COVID-19 pandemic. “In Germany, there was a manual, an outline on how to get the people to do what the government wanted them to do to adhere to these restrictions,” she said.

“They outlined it there specifically, ‘Even though kids are at no risk of this COVID, we have to make them afraid. If they catch it and then they infect their grandparents, they’re responsible for having killed their grandparents.’ That’s the kind of thinking that went on in the governments.”

“A completely blown out of proportion kind of pandemic. For what? It was so the pharmaceutical companies could make billions and billions of dollars.”

Jekielek noted that there’s “unequivocal evidence” that the UK government was involved in sowing fear among its populace with regard to COVID-19 and had a specific strategy for doing so. Similar things were done in other countries, including the United States, he pointed out.

When asked whether this was the result of some kind of global coordination, Anderson replied, “Absolutely.”

“That is actually the scariest part of all of this. Had it only been two or three countries going rogue, we would have had the hopes another country would step in and put a stop to it,” she said.

“They were in lockstep with all of this. They literally read from the same script, repeating the same lines, ‘Build back better, safe and effective.’ Every single Western democracy was pretty much doing the same thing.”

https://www.theepochtimes.com/15-minute ... n-copylink