Who is living a local lifestyle? Towards a better understanding of the 15-minute-city and 30-minute-city concepts from a behavioural perspective in Montréal, Canada

Abstract

Policy makers worldwide are increasingly embracing the idea of a “15-Minute City” or “30-Minute City” as part of their sustainable-development strategies. These planning concepts propose an urban environment where residents can meet their essential needs within a short trip from their home using active modes of travel. However, there is limited understanding about the replicability and usefulness of these concepts in influencing the travel behaviour of residents to meet the 15- or 30-minute-city reality. Drawing from a travel-behaviour survey and open-source geospatial data from Montréal, Canada, this article seeks to identify which groups of households are living a 15- or 30-minute city lifestyle to understand the compatibility of the x-minute city planning approach with the local North American context. Findings indicate that the 15- and 30-minute city paradigms provide goals that are hardly reachable in the context of a large North American city. Very few households are able to conduct all their daily travel within close proximity to their home, even if the built environment was substantially altered. These findings suggest that the x-minute city is not a one-size-fits-all model. The findings from this study can be of interest to transport professionals aiming to apply the x-minute city as it highlights the challenges associated to meeting such target in a North American context.

Keywords

• 15-minute city
• 30-minute city
• Travel behaviour
• Household characteristics
• Urban planning
• Active travel