It's only bonkers when you miss the bigger picture of what they are trying to do.
These 'solutions' won't reduce traffic or emissions, how exactly is having to drive twice as far to get to the same place going to reduce emissions?
What 15 minute cities have you lived in? Do you mean rural country towns?
Gloucester, Cheltenham, Newcastle, Bristol, and family in Oxford. All are limited by their geography in what they can do to improve, but big cities trying to be more liveable is excellent.
I lived in London for a couple of years before the cleaner rules, and while it had terrible air (still does, not so bad though, emission have clearly reduced), and it will never be a 15 min city, it did have excellent transport. Most Londoners I met don't have a car, don't need one. Many had never even learned to drive (bit of a shocker that one. I learned at 17. Provinces had to, or you were walking the 5 miles back from town after 7pm).
My nephew when a toddler living in Oxford used to line up his toy cars. For a race you say? Nope, his game was "traffic jams and car parks". That was 20 years ago. Oxford hasn't been freely drivable since about 1975.
It might be that you are in the US and haven't lived in fairly compact cities, where, provided that alternatives exist, cars can get optional.
FWIW I lived outside Rochester NY as a kid for 18 months. Loved it, but, we had to drive EVERYWHERE. We even took the bus to school, a distance that in the UK, at 7, I'd have been expected to walk. By myself. (Less than 2 miles. At 11, it goes up to 3 miles).
Drive to the shops, which at home, i walked to. Drive to the library, which, at home, i walked to.
Some constraints exist due to infrastructure, but many are in the mind.
By what definition are those 15 minute cities? You're retroactively applying a concept that has only recently begun being introduced.
In my experience, public transport in London is far from excellent. Compared to who? I've been here over 15 years.
Most Londoners living within zone 1-2 don't have a need for cars, what about the rest? Most people I know own cars. Every single house has a least one car in the driveway once you get outside of the center.
15 minute cities won't reduce traffic. They will reduce your ability to move around though.
The reason why we are against such things, is because once they are introduced somewhere, they precedent is set, and more restrictions will be brought in under the guise of protecting you and saving the environment.
On public transport, London is amazing compared to where I grew up.
Want to go somewhere? Buses ranged from every half hour to every two weeks (I kid you not).
After 7pm? You're walking home.
Got a GF 14 miles away? You're cycling there and back. (I'd have gotten seriously fit if that one had lasted!)
Moves to London, Edgeware, top of Northern Line. Station is ten mins walk. I had a car, because my weekends were away, but it parked up on the street and didn't move. OK, it did once. I naively figured that the North and South Circulars were some kind of speedy road that would enable a quick trip to South London. Didn't make that mistake twice :-)
Even now, I drive to Hillingdon, park, get the tube. 1-2 changes and maybe a bus, I'm anywhere I need to be.
You've just made a solid case for car ownership.
Any big city will have better public transport than a small town. This isn't anything novel.
All those travel issues with public transport in small towns are non-issues if you have a car.
I'm can't support the idea of forcing people to rely on expensive and inefficient transport systems because of a fictional problem, but creating more problems and curbing movement.
"15 minute city" is a new way of describing a concept that's existed for a VERY long time. The proof of that is that most 15 minute cities were developed pre-WW2. The issue is coming to a head now because of the damage cars and car culture have done to society.
I live in Manhattan (Harlem) - I LOVE my 15 minute city. But it doesn't confine me - I can take the subway to meet friends in Brooklyn - I can take MetroNorth to go cycling in Westchester & Putnam Counties - I can take LIRR to the beach. I can take Amtrak to Montréal, Burlington VT, Boston, DC, etc.
Cars are highly destructive to society in SO many ways. Once you "see it" you can't unsee it. The problem is they're so engrained that most people never question their impact.
C'mon. 15 minute cities have never existed.
From Wiki: "The ongoing climate crisis and global COVID-19 pandemic have prompted a heightened focus on the 15-minute city concept. In July 2020, the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group published a framework for cities to "build back better" using the 15-minute concept, referring specifically to plans implemented in Milan, Madrid, Edinburgh, and Seattle after COVID-19 outbreaks"
It is and always has been a concept, and I think you've overlooked what these implementations are proposing. Implemented after COVID because it's another excuse to introduce more "temporary" government measures.
Harlem isn't a 15 minute city, not even remotely in the same way that they are proposing.
"Cars are highly destructive to society in SO many ways. Once you "see it" you can't unsee it. The problem is they're so engrained that most people never question their impact."
As a city dweller, you have no use for a car, so to you that now that means that no one should have access to cars because you've made up a bunch of reasons and it wouldn't impact you.
Cars provide a net benefit, calling them highly destructive is highly disingenuous.
Imagine the world was going into an ice-age, and then imagine believing that running your car would somehow have an impact on preventing that. It's a fairy tale.
You’ve clearly never lived in a 15 minute city. They’re wonderful. And Harlem absolutely is one.
Look, you can call it whatever you want. 15 minute cities as they are being defined today is nothing like what Harlem currently is. I've been there and have friends who live there.
Read up on smart cities and their plans a little before presuming you understand what these are meant to be.
15 minute cities are anew form of control trying to be forced on the population as something good when under the surface its about controlling your movement. This is another plan by the WEF.
