Engaging Citizens and Practitioners: How the 'Flowers of Proximity' Make the 15-Minute City Blossom
Creators: name: Seisenberger, Sebastian
name: Buettner, Benjamin
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: 15 minute city
public participation
flowers of proximity
inclusive planning
proximity centred accessibility
co design

description: The 15-Minute City is often conceived as a human-centred planning ideal. To live up to the ideal, the viewpoints of citizens but also planning practitioners should be consulted. In this contribution, we want to share our experience with a method that we used to initiate discussions about the 15-Minute City: the ‘Flowers of Proximity'. The Flowers of Proximity were developed by Ana Gil Solá and Bertil Vilhelmson (2019) to discuss the role of proximity in sustainable urban planning. It involves participants locating different destinations such as primary schools, parks, and supermarkets within concentric circles that indicate different travel times from a home location. We adapted the method in workshops on the 15-Minute City with planning practitioners and citizens, initially to identify relevant destinations for accessibility analyses and the willingness to walk to these destinations. However, the Flowers of Proximity helped to stimulate discussions that go far beyond simple quantifications. As part the development of a guideline for the implementation of the 15-Minute City concept, we used the tool in multiple workshops with planning practitioners (see Büttner et al. 2022, p. 35-36). Especially in our workshop with practitioners from the metropolitan region of Munich, the discussions quickly shifted from the question of how far destinations should be located from people's homes to questions of co-location of services and trip chaining. Having a general practitioner or a pharmacy within 15 minutes is important, but the participants also noted that these destinations should be in proximity to each other. Similarly, many practitioners reflected on the need of locating retirement homes in central locations to ensure the inclusion of vulnerable residents. In another project in which we developed an accessibility tool for citizens (https://citizens.plan4better.de/), we used the Flowers of Proximity in a workshop with 14 residents from Munich. The method enabled people to talk about their ideal 15-Minute City and reflect on their personal travel behaviour. The participants raised concerns regarding basic assumptions of the 15-Minute City concept such as the focus on walking and cycling and the neglect of public transport. Furthermore, questions about the quality of the destinations were raised. For example, having a park within 15 minutes is not enough; it must also suite the individuals' needs and preferences. The lively discussions as well as the appealing visual results made the Flowers of Proximity a valuable tool in our projects. Applying the method in different countries and with people of different backgrounds can help to sharpen the concept of the 15-Minute City, adapt it to different local contexts, and deliver the promise of a human-centred planning ideal. References Büttner, B., Seisenberger, S., Baquero, M., Rivas, A., Haxhija, S., Ramirez, A., &amp; McCormick, B. (2022). ±15-Minute City: Human-centred planning in action. EIT Urban Mobility: Urban Mobility Next 9. https://www.eiturbanmobility.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/EIT-UrbanMobilityNext9_15-min-City_144dpi.pdf Gil Solá, A., &amp; Vilhelmson, B. (2019). Negotiating proximity in sustainable urban planning: A Swedish case. Sustainability (Switzerland), 11(1). https://doi.org/10.3390/su11010031