The concept of the 15-minute city is a vision for quality of life, sustainability, and mobility. With PERSEUS, we are developing a tool to bring this vision to life

The 15-Minute City (15mC) is a vision for quality of life, sustainability, and mobility that goes beyond the decades-long norm of promoting car ownership and car-centric planning.

Given the long-established norms of the past, realizing this vision requires a wide range of new scientific insights, tools, and methods. A critical component is the need for a meaningful and accessible index of 15mC’s spatial potential for interventions.

However, a quantitative assessment of system dynamics (including the response to passenger behavior) requires highly detailed, customized modeling for each individual city. Such time-consuming modeling often complicates both policy evaluation and public engagement.

The PERSEUS research project builds on the team’s modeling and data expertise to develop a framework of responsive indicators that can quickly assess the potential for achieving 15mC, taking into account sociodemographic and network-specific characteristics as well as policy requirements. In particular, a rapid, model-independent indicator approach is proposed to assess the impacts of measures to restrict car traffic and promote active/sustainable mobility on accessibility, the environment/climate, the economy, and equal opportunity.

An interactive “research-to-practice” decision-making tool will enable experts and non-experts alike to test, visualize, and understand the results of integrated measures. In addition, pilot studies will be developed to validate and facilitate rapid policy instruments in democratized planning processes.