Collaborative research project on the 15 minute city

We are joining Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in a new research effort to rethink what the 15-minute city can mean outside the inner city. As part of the ENHANCE project, we're helping to uncover the barriers that stand in the way of applying 15-minute city (15mC) principles in outer metropolitan areas and to turn that knowledge into something planners and policymakers can actually use. While VU Amsterdam coordinates the research, the Deltametropolis Association takes the lead on connecting these findings to the real world: organising events that bring the evidence into dialogue with local policy efforts.

the research project

The 15-minute city was originally designed with dense, well-connected inner-city districts in mind. But the idea of shorter, everyday trips and more liveable neighbourhoods is arguably even more relevant for outer metropolitan areas, suburbs, and smaller towns — places that tend to face a harder starting point. Greater car dependence, struggling local retail centres, fragmented housing developments, and weaker active travel infrastructure all make sustainable, local travel a bigger challenge here than in the city centre.

ENHANCE was designed to understand exactly what holds these areas back, and to build the evidence base needed to improve local planning decisions. The project pursues this through three connected tasks:

This will be achieved through three main tasks:

(1) Measuring Accessibility: Creating multi-modal composite accessibility indicators that capture progress towards 15-minute city goals and that highlight the degree to which daily travel needs can potentially be fulfilled within local trips.

(2) Understanding real travel behaviour: Analysing actual travel behaviour in relation to the 15-minute city objectives to describe the degree to which different societal groups fulfil their daily travel needs by local trips in practice and to understand current barriers to meeting sustainable travel objectives.

(3) Modelling future scenarios: Developing a modelling environment that allows the development of future scenarios that enhance accessibility by the provision of transport infrastructure, adapting travel behaviour or (re)developing the city.

ENHANCE is funded by Driving Urban Transitions to a Sustainable Future (DUT), a programme of JPI Urban Europe, see for more information:
https://jpi-urbaneurope.eu/driving-urban-transitions-to-a-sustainable-future-dut/

Find more specific information on the researchposter on the right side in the colofon.

our role

Every city applies the 15-minute city idea differently through its own local challenges. That diversity is what makes international comparison valuable. It shows which barriers are universal, which advantages are context-specific, and what different places can learn from one another.

This comparative work is the focus of Work Package 5 (WP5), which draws out best practices and the lessons from what hasn’t worked across all project partners. Thanks to our extensive experience organising international knowledge-sharing events, the Deltametropolis Association leads this work package from the Netherlands, helping set up both a series of online workshops and a final in-person and public event. This is where the project culminates, where the main findings are shared and put to the test with the wider partner network.

Through a collaboration with Pakhuis de Zwijger we are able to bring this event from a academic focused knowledge exchange to a bigger publicly accessible event, where we will discuss the different values underlying the 15minute city concept and its applicability.

Join us the 7th of October in Pakhuis de Zwijger to learn more! Both about the research and other aligning Mobility Transition research in the afternoon, and the public interest in the evening. More information on the website of Pakhuis de Zwijger.