Social inclusivity of the 15-minute city in peripheral areas

Investigate how proximity-based urban planning within the 15-minute city framework can remain socially inclusive in neighborhoods outside dense urban cores, specifying strategies that ensure equitable access to amenities and opportunities for socio-economic mixing in urban peripheries.

Background

The paper integrates public transport into the 15-minute city framework and analyzes Helsinki, Madrid, and Budapest. It shows that multimodal mobility increases access to amenities and, to a lesser extent, socio-economic mixing, with effects varying by network geometry and distance from the city center.

Despite these findings, the authors highlight a central unresolved issue in the broader debate: whether and how proximity-based planning can maintain social inclusivity outside dense urban cores, where amenities are scarcer and reliance on public transport is greater. This question motivates the need for planning and network design strategies that work in peripheral contexts.