15-minute Cities

What if…We ensured that communities were built up again where you could get all your main day-to-day needs within a 15-minute walk, thus reducing reliance on cars and building a better community? Could this be applied across Oxfordshire, even down to village level? Should we be promoting the return of the neighbourhood or corner shop?

‍A bit like...Paris, France. The city is looking at how it develops the “15-minute” principle, mixing stores with homes, bars with health centres, and schools with office buildings, challenging much of the planning orthodoxy of the past century or so, which has attempted to separate residential areas from retail, entertainment, manufacturing, and office districts.

What if…The large swathes of land previously given over to transport infrastructure were greened or utilised for other purposes to avoid building on greenfield spaces. Should we seek to actively reclaim highway land or do we need to maintain flexibility for future challenges? How could town centres work in the next 30 years if there was less space for vehicles but more space for people?

‍A bit like...The High Line, New York. A decision in 2000’s to repurpose this piece of derelict transport infrastructure led to a green linear park route through central New York, built between 2009-2019. It provides an attractive walking route and has had regeneration and investment impact in neighbouring areas and is now a tourist attraction in its own right.

Share your ideas!

Use the form below to share your ideas with us and the community. You can send us a video, upload a document or just write some text, whatever works for you.

As the project progresses we'll be sharing some ideas here on the website to further stimulate the discussion. We'll keep your name and email address confidential and we'll add you to the mailing list but you can unsubscribe any time.
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We're looking forward to hearing positive, game changing ideas that will shape our county!