15 Minute Cities

Craig Shearer - 28 August 2023

OK, so another item related to climate change. I’ve recently started listening to an entertaining podcast - The Climate Denier’s Playbook.

The podcast is a very accessible look at how climate change deniers use misinformation and disinformation to make people think climate change isn’t real or isn’t serious or we can’t do anything about it or it will cost too much to address.

It’s co-hosted by a couple of comedians Nicole Conlan and Rollie Williams. And while it’s entertaining, it does go in depth into looking at how climate denial happens, and often features “cranky uncle” types who spread such misinformation.

Anyway, they did a recent episode about 15 minute cities. I’d previously heard of the hubbub around the concept in various conspiracy theory sources.

The claims of these sources were that 15 minutes cities would introduce the concept of “climate lockdowns” - everybody forced to remain at home to solve the climate change problem. (The irony, of course, being that many of these conspiracy theorists deny that climate change is even happening - but I guess we can’t expect consistency from such muddled thinkers.)

Even if you’re not locked down, the conspiracy theory claims that you’ll be locked in your area, unable to leave and that you’ll be fined for doing so, or that there will be physical barriers preventing you from leaving. It’s all about government control!

The podcast covers the conspiracy well.

It emanated from a plan made by the Oxfordshire county council in the UK to control traffic on six highly congested arterial roads.

But the conspiracy theorists translated that into a bunch of misinformation. There was a post made during the pandemic by an organisation called Project Syndicate, which is allegedly funded by George Soros and Bill Gates, that “The world may need a ‘climate lockdown’”; that lockdowns would be used to tackle the climate emergency.

There was also a post that claimed that Oxfordshire was planning to put electronic gates on key roads in and out of the city, and confine residents to their own neighbourhoods.

Jordan Peterson added to the controversy, tweeting out “The idea that neighborhoods 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.”

The reality of all this is that Oxfordshire was planning on implementing traffic calming measures on the highly congested arterial roads, implementing congestion charges in an attempt to reduce and manage traffic. The traffic filtering included prohibiting private cars from travelling on certain roads at certain times of the day. This is just like we have in New Zealand, with various lanes being prohibited at certain times, and not being able to drive in bus lanes. All sensible stuff.

The Oxfordshire council had to explain the policy and correct the misinformation on their website. They also detail that residents of certain areas will be able to apply for a permit to drive through the restricted zones up to 100 times per year, and that other residents outside the zones can apply for permits to allow for up to 25 uses per year. Uses outside what is permitted would be fined through systems using automatic registration plate recognition. All standard stuff, it would seem.

In reality, what the concept of 15 minute cities entails is about urban planning. It’s about planning cities and suburbs in such a way that people can live and work locally, and that the requirement to have a personal vehicle is minimised.

I think that the concept of 15 minute cities is a great idea. Wouldn’t it be great if you could walk or take easily accessible public transport everywhere you needed to, to access the services and shops that you need on a daily basis.

As usual, the conspiracy theorists have turned it into something sinister, to be feared.