Carlos Moreno – Introducing and Promoting a New Urban Planning Model

Before the recent lockdowns around the world due to the coronavirus outbreak, we led hectic lives with long commutes and not enough time to spend with our friends and families. The traffic polluted our air, and smog blanketed our skylines. Now that the world has recovered from the pandemic, we can transform our lives by creating a "New Normal" to reclaim our time, health, and well-being. The idea lies in the 15-minute city concept. It is a proliferating concept to make our lives in the cities more convenient, less stressful, and more sustainable.

A 15-minute city is one where everything we need is close to our homes, communities are safe and inclusive, and the air is clean. The concept is to easily get the goods and services like fresh groceries, healthcare, and other amenities in just a short trip. A 15-minute city is where everyone has a place. The notion suggests not only a decrease in resource usage but also a reduction in transport demands in urban areas, hence encouraging increased density and urban activities. This creates an urban environment that necessitates a paradigm change, with distinct urban nodes accessible in 15-minute walks or cycling.

The idea is a new urban planning model proposed in 2016 by Franco-Colombian scientist Carlos Moreno, an expert in intelligent control of complex systems, who saw the need for people-centered urban settings. The '15-Minute City' rose to popularity as a result of its powerful political branding and pragmatic execution.

The quest for a quality life

Moreno is also noted for his foresight in urban development and the quest for quality of life which comes from certain factors like working nearby the home or working remotely more often, while everyone plays a proactive role in the neighborhood. With Moreno's vision, we can transform our dwelling into an oasis of green parks, neighborhoods into human activity, sidewalks and roads into public spaces for life.With Moreno's vision, we can transform our dwellings into an oasis of green parks, endless sidewalks, and empty roads. This is actually the purpose behind Moreno's 15-minute city. He was born in Colombia in 1959 and was a former refugee in France. He is an associate professor at IAE Paris Business School - Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University in France. He is also the co-founder and scientific director of the ETI Chair "Entrepreneurship - Territory - Innovation." He is also an interdisciplinary researcher and a well-known scientific figure across the world.

The growing cities without any proper planning

Half of the world's population lives in cities, and by the end of the century, it will be more like 90%. Over the last 20 years, we have been talking about how urbanization is the way forward. Still, people's dynamics and priorities have changed during the pandemic. So this is the real moment in time where we have to rethink and almost get behind a new vision of the city. Considering all the past and ongoing crises, Moreno's 15-minute city, is the best among the solutions present in the world today. It is critical to consider the complexity of the city as the 15-minute city proposes for examining the daily interactions for living differently and increase the quality of life. It is critical to consider fundamental planning concepts to attain 'complexity' in implementing the 15-minute city idea, and it should be realized that this would be a costly project.

Should we all live in 15-minute cities?

Ever watch the morning traffic when people are going to work? Mostly it is one car, one person, or a tonne or two of metal that takes up to 130 square feet of space, more or less. The main issue with the cities we live in is that they are suffering from too many cars. With excessive traffic, the noise, it is not easy to stay calm in such a stressful environment as a big city. What we want is that in a city from where we live, we do not have to travel far, whether going to work or shopping, to access health care to enjoy the culture or to relax. Moreno's 15-minute city concept is simply centered around planning an urban environment with human beings at the center and not cars.

Multi-award-winning creator of the concept of the 15-minute city

The French Republic bestowed The Knight of the Order of the Legion of Honor to Carlos Moreno in 2010. The French Academy of Architecture awarded him the Foresight Medal in 2019. He received the prestigious Obel Award 2021 for his work on urban and territorial closeness and its global influence. He received the Leadership Award at the World Smart Cities Awards organized by the Smart City Expo World Congress in November 2021. Carlos Moreno earned the "Scroll of Honour" 2022 from UN-HABITAT as the inventor of the concept of the 15-Minute City, one of the world's most prestigious prizes awarded to people who fight for sustainable urbanization.