Thread by @carlafrancome

These are some of the points I made on Radio 4, for anyone short of time!

I’m yet to meet someone who’d welcome more cars on their street. We all want fewer cars in my experience - the question is how exactly we go about having less … 1/6

It’s recognised pretty much universally that we need to reduce congestion- even the RAC mentions this- it says on their website to “avoid unnecessary journeys where possible” …

The term “15 minute city” was coined by @CarlosMorenoFr … 2/6

You can watch Carlos’ TED talk here. I love that he says:

“The rhythm of the city should follow humans not cars”. And that we need to converge life into a “human-sized space”.

When it comes to freedom, you are of course still free to travel to … 3/6

ted.com/talks/carlos_m…

other areas in a 15 minute city. But if we’re going to talk about freedom, who’s are we talking about? Because we need to talk about the freedom of children, teenagers, pedestrians, and others who don’t drive.

When it comes to freedom for drivers- yes, there are … 4/6

moves to curtail this. But frankly, it’s about time isn’t it. At the end of 2021, there were over 40 million cars in the UK. Imagine if you put them all end to end.

In 1949, less than 30 billion miles were driven on Great Britain’s roads. By 2021, it was nearly 300 … 5/6

billion- a tenfold increase. We’ve tried giving drivers all the freedom to go exactly where they please, and look where it’s got us. We need to try something else.

15 minute cities ARE about freedom. The freedom to live in a “human-sized space”, just as Carlos said. 6/6

There are other lovely quotes from @CarlosMorenoFr, I didn’t have time to say them all- he says we need to change the dysfunctions of modern cities “for the sake of justice”. And that we’ve “accepted the unacceptable”, adapting to cities’ long-distance mode …