“My hot take on “15 minute cities” is if you can get to the coffee shop within fifteen minutes, but the barrista who makes your drink can’t afford to live closer than a half-hour away, then you live in a theme park.” – Gareth Klieber #cities #urbanism #housing #transit #cycling
Related: MMM’s recent article on building a car-free city
Several years ago, I stayed a couple nights at the earthship community outside Taos and was disappointed how car-dependent the neighborhood is. For zoning reasons, they needed to develop outside of city limits (iirc), but the highway back to Taos is *not* safe to bike, and too far to walk. They’re so focused on self-reliance, they haven’t actually built a community, with their own services and businesses. The dirt streets connecting the earthships were unadorned, unclaimed — each person was focused on their own domain, not on building community. By necessity, there were piles of trash everywhere (used as building materials for earthships). Instead of a visionary reimagining of community, it’s only a reimagining of a house.
