VIRTUAL: Livable Cities – New York

Abstract

“Slow down, you move too fast; You got to make the morning last; Just kicking down the cobblestones; Looking for fun and feeling groovy” What if our cities’ planning was not defined temporally (i.e., proximity and speed), but rather by spatial experience and well-being? What if time was not of the essence, and our movement embraced slowness and certainty? In opposition to the car as the measure of urban scale and movement, the 15-minute city prioritises human-paced travel (a 10-minute walk or 15-minute bike ride). This city’s structure is of mixed-use, diversified urban neighbourhoods accommodating vital assets such as health services, retail, and schools. Critical is these assets’ temporal accessibility within individual neighbourhoods and with adjoining neighbourhoods. Yet is this temporality so critical? Prompted by questions on a proposed health centre’s siting in Plymouth’s city centre (UK), and outside the boundary of a key neighbourhood it is meant to serve, we examined the centre’s perceived accessibility. Through narrative inquiry and mapping we explored residents’ current movement to the city centre. Emergent was an emphasis on their journey’s quality (e.g., scenic routes and places for sitting) and/or safety (e.g., away from busy roads and/or anti-social activity).  Such narratives extend manifestos for greater connectivity to place grounded in a slower pace of life and a sense of wellbeing. They equally redefine a connectivity between space and time in which time is not a linear abstraction but connected to the rhythms of and other in place.