The 15-minute city: interpreting the model to bring out urban resiliencies

In a globally connected world, in a city more and more smart, it is always alive the demand for living in a physical neighborhood where walk and bike among familiar people and services. It is a quality of life which meets the deep desire of community and place identity. The 15-minutes city is the contemporary version of the classical “human measure”. The model offers a refreshing chrono-centric vision for the city that prioritizes people’s time, energy and physio-psychological health by relieving their daily commutes. The recent pandemic clearly showed this potential; the daily outdoor movement by soft mobility allowed social life even during lockdown periods. Inside a wider pattern of transnational corridors and global flows, a polycentric urban vision based on eco-villages emerges, where the 4.0 dimension integrates the physical human measure. The 15-minutes model enters in the research agenda in parallel with the rise of questions about the Transit Oriented Development approach; the paper will discuss these questions and the evolving urban scenario, in between tactical urbanism and long-term strategies. The 15-minutes approach is totally different from the neighborhood design of the organic planning of the ‘60s. It is pushed by the covid-19 emergency but it is rooted in the experience of urban regeneration masterplans of the last decade. Real estate strategies for place making aim to create new sustainable urban districts, pedestrian oriented and carbon free. The question of which daily services to include in a 15-minute neighborhood model is a matter of principle and perspective. At the very least, a 15-minute city should accommodate a mix of essential daily services that fulfil basic human needs. A system is proposed in order to define daily, non-work services under six macro-categories, namely: nutrition, education, recreation, health, public transport and civic services. On this basis, the potentials for neighborhoods across the city of Milan is investigated to conform to an inclusive 15-minute model, using fully-fledged and innovative mapping. The level of walkability of its neighborhoods is also considered, starting from the conditions of the sidewalk. Taking the city of Milan as a case study, this analysis aims to explore the potential of the city to support walkable living environments with a guaranteed basic level of accessibility to daily needs using soft mobility modes and new opportunities of moving across urban districts provided by micro-mobility devices. The study falls in line with overarching goals of the city to explore sustainable alternative urban responses to the coronavirus pandemic as outlined in the Milano 2020 Adaptation Strategy Plan, as well as SUMP guidelines defined by the European Commission for a recovery plan from the ongoing global crisis.