For years we have been hearing about the 15-minute city as an idea that is almost too good to be true. That urban dream where you reach everything on foot or by bicycle, without wasting time or burning petrol. Now, however, a group of researchers from Concordia University in Montreal has shown that this is no longer a fairy tale for optimistic urban planners. After almost ten years of study, he has developed a model capable of combining solar energy, urban agriculture and electric transport in a neighborhood that produces what it consumes, reducing dependence on cars to almost zero.
How it works
In their work, published on Sustainabilitythe researchers start from a simple question: is it possible to bring the essentials closer to people’s daily lives, so much so as to avoid unnecessary travel? The answer takes the form of a neighborhood that seems built with the common sense we all invoke when stuck in traffic.
In this idea of the city, supermarkets and small agricultural markets are distributed throughout the area so that they are never more than a kilometer away from home. Urban agriculture is no longer a hipster quirk, but a network made up of cultivated roofs, green facades and small unused spaces transformed into vegetable gardens. And then comes the part that intrigues everyone: the photovoltaic panels integrated into the sidewalks. Not only do they produce energy, but they power electric vehicles that transport fruit and vegetables from micro-gardens to nearby retail outlets.
The idea is not to create isolated neighborhoods, but clusters connected to each other, ready to exchange resources, energy and services. A city that doesn’t just consume, but that collaborates, with the same naturalness with which we exchange messages on the smartphone today.
The test in Canada
To see if the theory held up in real life, the team applied the model to the West 5 neighborhood in the city of London, Ontario. The surprise is that not only does it work, but it works better than expected.
The cultivated surfaces – just a small part of the roofs, facades and urban spaces – would be enough to make the neighborhood self-sufficient for the production of vegetables. Carbon emissions would drop by 98%, because almost all traditional means of transport would be eliminated.
And the cost of the transition? Here comes the part you don’t expect: thanks to solar energy produced directly in the neighborhood, electric transportation systems would pay for themselves in about 2.8 years, with energy costing just $0.92/kWh. In a world where many green projects seem to remain suspended between good intentions and things that don’t add up, this model instead shows dual sustainability: environmental and economic.
The research doesn’t stop here. The scholars want to extend the analysis to schools, hospitals, workplaces and regional connections, to design a city that not only reduces the impact on the planet, but really helps people live better: less stress, less traffic, more proximity, more time.
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