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I might write up a blog post on this later, but some thoughts on why talk of "fifteen minute cities" is misguided IMO:
Most of the fundamentals of a complete neighborhood - grocery stores, pharmacies, parks, K-12 schools - can and should be located within 15 minutes of everyone. That is a worthy goal for cities to pursue.
The reason this is doable (with good land use policy) is that these things are relatively interchangeable - a pharmacy is a pharmacy, a park is a park. People don't need to live near a park that's tailor-made for them, they just need a park.
Jobs are different, though. People need access to the specific job that's right for them, not just "jobs" in general.
If you scatter jobs thinly throughout a large city or metro area, most people aren't going to happen to live near the job that's best for them.
If you scatter jobs thinly throughout a large city or metro area, most people aren't going to happen to live near the job that's best for them.
"Well, people will just move to the neighborhood that has the job they want"
This doesn't work if you have multiple workers in your household. Odds are, your preferred job and your partner's preferred job will be located in different neighborhoods, possibly very far apart.
This doesn't work if you have multiple workers in your household. Odds are, your preferred job and your partner's preferred job will be located in different neighborhoods, possibly very far apart.
And of course, what happens when you change jobs, as people do very often these days? Are you gonna move across town every time you change jobs? Being able to leave a job and find a similar one right across the street is a huge strength of strong CBDs.
This is why a strong central business district - something that many prominent posters (like Richard Florida) have been attacking this year - is actually a good thing, provided that:
1. You let lots of people live close to it
2. You provide everyone quality transportation to it
1. You let lots of people live close to it
2. You provide everyone quality transportation to it
And this is where the real issue is - not in the existance of strong CBDs, but in poor land use and transportation policy.
Downtown Chicago has over 600k jobs in a ~2 square mile area. It's the second largest CBD in North America.
Downtown Chicago has over 600k jobs in a ~2 square mile area. It's the second largest CBD in North America.
But less than 3 miles away from downtown, you've got zoning districts with a Floor-Area-Ratio limit of 0.9, a height limit of 30 feet, and a minimum lot size of 2,500 sq ft. That severly limits the number of people that can live close to all those jobs, thus lengthening commutes.
This is compounded by poor transportation policy. Metra is awful outside of rush hour. There's nothing resembling BRT in Chicago outside of Loop Link. There are entire neighborhoods without any true rapid transit service - only infrequent bus lines, without dedicated lanes.
And then there's the remote work factor, which has become more prominent due to the pandemic. Richard Florida argues that the rise of remote work means that it's okay for CBDs to become less important.
The main problems with this are:
1. Most people can't work remotely
2. In major cities, many working-class jobs are created by having tons of white-collar workers in the CBD https://twitter.com/fpeckert/status/1331644268398710785
1. Most people can't work remotely
2. In major cities, many working-class jobs are created by having tons of white-collar workers in the CBD https://twitter.com/fpeckert/status/1331644268398710785
When I worked downtown, I would get lunch with a few coworkers at a spot in The Loop called Chicken Planet. Since I started working from home in March, I haven't been back to Chicken Planet - I've been eating in my neighborhood instead.
Multiply that sort of shift by 100k.
Multiply that sort of shift by 100k.
This may not dramatically decrease the overall number of jobs, but it does shift where jobs are located, from the CBD to wealthy neighborhoods that have lots of remote workers. That makes getting to work more difficult for people who can't afford to live in those neighborhoods.
Meanwhile, some of the coworkers I would eat lunch with live in the suburbs. Now that they're working from home, they aren't spending much money in the city at all. That shifts both jobs and tax revenue out of the City of Chicago all together.
Ultimately, the number one selling point for the most environmentally-friendly metro areas is their strong, centralized job markets - not "amenities". Urban advocates should be defending their job centers, and working to provide easier access to it for all residents.
