How Edmonton’s 15-Minute City Plan May Play Out

Edmonton is one of the few cities in the world to adopt a 15-minute city model, with council recently approving the much-debated city plan.

Its goal is for people to access needed amenities and workplaces within a 15-minute walk, bike-ride, or transit trip from their homes. Edmonton’s policy documents suggest this may go hand-in-hand with the goal to cut the percentage of trips made by vehicles from the current level of roughly 80 percent down to 50 percent. This reduction is part of the city’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions. 

The 15-minute concept has met with mixed reactions globally. Some have lauded it, citing the latest urban development research. It has also had passionate critics, including the UK’s past Conservative government. In Edmonton, praise and protest mixed at public hearings and council meetings on the matter. 

Freedom of movement has been one key concern, as the idea of 15-minute cities has become intermingled with limitations on personal vehicle use. Automobile autonomy “has come to be seen as synonymous with personal liberty,” as Oxford University criminology professor Ian Loader says in his paper “15-minute cities and the denial(s) of auto-freedom.”

Loader’s town of Oxford has itself implemented the 15-minute city model, and its initiatives to limit traffic flow—not directly part of the 15-minute plan—met with pushback. For example, it set up traffic “filters” on some major roads that require permits to pass. Some have called it “disinformation” to conflate the two policies, thereby suggesting 15-minute cities limit free movement.

The Edmonton city council responded to public comments on freedom of movement by adding an amendment to assure citizens that their charter right to freedom of movement will not be violated. The city’s plan does not contain any Oxford-like filters, nor detailed plans for limiting vehicle use. Its section on “mobility” includes minimized roadway expansion for vehicles and prioritizing convenient space for walking and biking. 

Loader makes the case that the concern around 15-minute cities may not lie in overt limitations, but rather in lower speed limits or other measures that “restrict people’s ability to drive where and when they see fit, or stipulate that a journey by car now takes longer than might previously have been the case.” 

Sandeep Agrawal, an urban planning expert and professor at the University of Alberta, supports the concept of 15-minute cities.

Edmonton’s 15-minute city plans are “aspirational,” he told The Epoch Times. Much remains to be seen as to how the plan materializes, and each step will require some buy-in from Edmontonians and the private sector, he said.

“The 15 minute concept is aspirational in nature, and it’s obviously fairly new,” Agrawal said. “Amenities and facilities need to be available within 15 minutes, so obviously it’s going to take some time to realize.”

Part of the city’s plan includes encouraging new building to be infill, to increase building density in some areas. 

“The city can’t build those things,“ Agrawal said. ”It’s the people; it’s the people who are going to put all of this together over time, taking advantage of what the zoning allows … and the regulatory environment.”

Some of the benefits 15-minute cities offer, according to proponents, are less vehicle pollution and a sense of small community in the big city as people will stay in their neighbourhoods more. But achieving that dream will meet with some bumps in the road, Agrawal said.

For example, having people’s workplaces located within a 15-minute radius would be difficult. Edmontonians’ average commute is 24 kilometres, according to Statistics Canada. 

“Workplaces are moving further and further away from residential areas,” Agrawal said. So the city’s plan to have many people work within a 15-minute bike or transit trip is “a much larger and, again, aspirational idea.”

Vehicle Use Versus Transit, Biking

The city’s goal to have 50 percent of trips made by transit, walking, or bike, has been long discussed. The goal is not included in its recently passed policy, which is officially called a “district policy” or Charter Bylaw 24000. But it was mentioned alongside the 15-minute plans in the report presented to city council on Bylaw 24000 on Oct. 2, the day the policy was passed by a vote of 9-4.

That report says that the district policy provides more detailed guidance on land use, mobility and growth management as outlined in The City Plan. The City Plan contains “Big City Moves,” a name given to the city’s goals for “transformative change.” One Big City Move is to make city life feel more connected and to improve access to daily amenities.

“The two targets associated with this Big City Move are having 50 per cent of trips made by transit and active modes, and where Edmontonians can easily access their daily needs within a 15-minute walk, roll or transit trip,” the report says.

City staff presented a report in 2021 to the council’s urban planning committee on the goal of having 50 percent of trips made by transit or active modes. The report outlined possible methods of achieving this goal, which would involve decreasing the percentage of vehicle trips from 78 percent to 50 percent.

“Double the costs associated with operating a car (e.g., road pricing such as tolls and congestion charges, fuel taxes, vehicle registration costs or mileage based charges)” was one point. “Quadruple the cost of parking” was another.

Creating car-free corridors, reducing transit fares, and repurposing traffic lanes for dedicated transit lanes were among the others.

The city told The Epoch Times via email that the 2021 report was taken only as information and no recommendations or course action was adopted. The city did not provide further details about how reaching the 50 percent goal may be achieved.

It emphasized that the district policy in no way aims to limit mobility.

“The City of Edmonton has no plans to put anything in place to do so. In fact, District Planning will enable more transportation options by supporting improved access and movement within and between districts and throughout the city,” it said.

“Together, the District Policy and plans help guide where development is encouraged and show where infrastructure and service improvements, such as roadways, parks and transit, are needed to support that development. This will help us build a city that feels less anonymous, more personal and ready to welcome new residents,” it added.

The district policy’s section on mobility includes some broad goals for making 15-minute transit, biking, and walking trips more convenient. But it does not include detailed, specific proposals like those presented to council in 2021. The Epoch Times asked the city if any further details could be given at present, but it did not respond directly to that question. 

The mobility section of the policy proposes creating more buffers between vehicles and pedestrians or bikers on the street. It says the “active transportation network” should “maximize user comfort.” It mentions parking pricing as a potential way to free up street space currently used for parking.

It speaks of improving transit network performance and designing streets “welcoming to all users in all seasons.”

Edmonton’s snowy season may make it difficult to encourage biking, walking, and transit, however.

“It’s not a cup of tea for everyone. Especially when the winter sets in and there’s snow on the ground, it’s not easy for elderly people or children,” Agrawal said. “So again, conceptually, 15 minutes sounds very good, and moving 50 percent to other modes of transportation, but how it pans out in Edmonton remains to be seen.” 

Oxford’s Loader speaks of the comforts of personal vehicles and why many are unwilling to give them up.

“It offers valuable ‘me time’ to be enjoyed in silence or with music, conversation and companions of one’s choice. It permits travel without the presence and discomfort of strangers. Cars are, in short, a kind of a mobile living room,“ he said. ”These are the felt freedoms and comforts that people seem reluctant to give up or compromise, and which are seemingly threatened by the 15-minute city.”

In Edmonton, almost 93 percent of drivers drive alone, more than any of Canada’s other 15 largest cities, according to a Statistics Canada report published in August.

The link between 15-minute cities and some limitations on traffic can be seen in Paris. 

“Its mayor Anne Hidalgo has been championing the ‘ville du quart d’heure’ since early 2020, and has embedded it into a broader plan to promote active mobility in lieu of cars,” says Richard Florida, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, in an article published by the World Economic Forum. 

“Car speed has been limited to 30 kilometers per hours [sic] on many streets; automobiles have been banned along the Seine one Sunday each month; and plans to include a biking lane on every street by 2024 are also in the works,” he said.

Free-Movement Fears

Some Edmontonians who protested the 15-minute city plan said this model would make lockdowns easier. 

“It’s easier to control us when we’re split up into these little districts, kind of similar to the COVID lockdowns,” Alexa Posa, founder of citizens’ group YEG United, told The Epoch Times at a Feb. 10 protest. YEG United organized the protest. 

“It’s really hard for me right now to believe what the City of Edmonton is going to tell us and what our politicians are telling us,” Posa said.

Councillor Aaron Paquette commented on this fear at a June 25 public hearing.

“We’re coming out of a very tumultuous time, through COVID, through the actions that people experienced then, through changes in how municipalities are building. And when you pair those things together, sometimes what happens is a narrative comes out that there is a desire by local governments to restrict movement or to be part of some larger organization,” Paquette said.

“But the fact is, we’re just here trying to do good work for the city, to try to find ways to reduce taxes, to operate in a more efficient way.” 

Freedom of movement concerns have been raised nationwide. During the pandemic, Ontario briefly implemented a policy that allowed police officers to arbitrarily stop vehicles to ask the purpose of the trip, and administer a fine if the trip was deemed unnecessary. That was repealed after public pushback.  

Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Que., implemented a policy earlier this year to have visitors scan a QR code when entering or leaving the island municipality. The purpose is to collect fees from tourists, with the proceeds being invested in the community. Many social media posts described this as a restriction on free movement, and some connected it to the idea of 15-minute cities. 

Residents are not charged, but must show identification to come and go. The measure is unrelated to the 15-minute city concept. 

Edmonton’s Adoption May Be Relatively Slow

Some other cities where the 15-minute concept has been adopted, such as Paris, are more conducive to the model, Agrawal said.

“Paris is a historic city and very different from a Prairie city like Edmonton. There were some ingredients already in place for them to then, let’s say, expedite and work on the idea of 15 minutes, and perhaps they got to realize it sooner. But for a place like Edmonton, it will take some time,” he said.

In Edmonton, a lot of green fields—sites never before developed—have been available and cheaper to develop, Agrawal said. Shifting toward more high-density and mixed use will take time, he said.

The debate over 15-minute cities has included varying perspectives on how expensive high-density building is compared to low density, and whether housing costs could rise.

“I think it’s a supply and demand situation. If people demand to be in a high density area, then developers will respond,” he said, noting that may eventually drive down costs. “But if you compare at the moment, developing a green field versus going into a matured area and doing an infill, there is certainly a cost difference there.”

Much will depend on the market, but the city can zone and create incentives because it has control over bike lanes and public infrastructure, Agrawal said.

“They can certainly put in bike lanes, but bike lanes from where to where, right? I mean, there has to be enough people, enough density, enough use in that area,” he said, adding that the city may take a “we will build it and they will come” approach.