My hometown aspires to 15-minute-cityhood. We've started; we've introduced a Zero-emission zone, and a number of low-traffic neighbourhoods. This is a town of

My hometown aspires to 15-minute-cityhood. We've started; we've introduced a Zero-emission zone, and a number of low-traffic neighbourhoods. This is a town of 140,000 permanent residents, about 4 miles across. At the moment it's going quite badly. Most side-streets are now closed to through traffic, so all the traffic is now forced onto main roads. But even those are one lane each way; road-widening is impossible here, because it's an old city with historic buildings. As a consequence, bus rides are slow, and taxis take ages. I don't use a car. There are three major hospitals here, and I have to allow 45 minutes for a journey of 1.5 miles (I have to attend hospital quite often, and I can't cycle, because of sedatives and so on). So far the local politicians haven't squared up to this. It could be a 15-minute city, I guess; but most of the congestion is caused by out-of-towners, who come to shop or work. The ZEZ and the LTNs don't seem to have caused them to stay at home, and my guess is that businesses will lobby hard against tightening up on out-of-town motorists. I can walk most places I need to in 15 minutes (I live in the centre of town). But if I can't walk or cycle, then I've definitely got problems. Basically, they haven't thought it through. I'm sure the planners put it through their models; I suspect that politicians have overridden the planners' advice.