Australia bombs out of international ranking of best 15-minute cities in the world - see how your capital fared
Australia has bombed out of an international study ranking the best 15-minute cities in the world with no major city in the country qualifying.
Australia has bombed out of an international study ranking the best 15-minute cities in the world with no major city in the country qualifying.
The study published by Nature Cities, a Sony Computer Science Laboratories research team in Italy, examined 10,000 cities around the world to discover how close they were to being 15-minute cities.
A 15-minute city is an urban planning concept where daily necessities and services can be reached within a 15-minute public transit ride, walk, or bike ride from any point in a city.
The concept aims to reduce car dependency, promote healthy and sustainable living, and improve wellbeing and quality of life for city dwellers.
Cities including Geneva, Paris and Berlin all fell within the ideal times.
No Australian city qualified as a 15-minute city, with Hobart narrowly missing out, coming in at 16 minutes.
Brisbane was the lowest ranking Australian city in the study, timed at 25 minutes.
Brisbane was the lowest ranked Australian city in the study of 15-minute cities, timed at 25 minutes
Western Australias capital Perth came in at 24 minutes in the study of global 15-minute cities
Sydney missed out on being defined as a 15-minute city, with a figure of 19 minutes
Not surprisingly, the study revealed that cities including Rome, Tokyo, Auckland and Melbourne showed residents living in the city centre or inner city areas had better access to services than those living in outer suburbs.
Our analysis consistently highlights patterns where city centres have better access to services than peripheral areas, the study said.
The Nature Cities study said substantial variations were apparent among the cities examined, depending how car-centric the city is and the level of suburban planning.
Dr Alan Both, from the Australian Urban Observatory, told 7News that Australian cities tend to be more spread out compared to European cities, which are more compact and dense.
We have cities with sprawling suburbs on the outside, and we dont have the density of people there, he said.
Dr Both said the frequency and number of services available are the major factors to determine a 15-minute city.
The average person is about 500m from public transport locations, on paper were doing quite well, but if they restrict the measure to frequent transport then were doing quite poorly, he said.
Experts suggest adopting a policy to focus on increasing services in fringe suburbs is also an option for Australian cities.
This has been successful in other cities around the world.
Melbourne was one of the top Australian cities in the study at 17 minutes
Notable exceptions exist, such as Paris or Barcelona, whose recent policies on increasing local access to services are well known, the study said.
These cities exhibit a more evenly distributed accessibility, transcending the typical centre–periphery divide.
Dr Crystal Legacy, who is an associate professor of urban planning at the University of Melbourne, told the ABC weve got kind of a story of two different cities.
Weve got capital cities that are public transport rich and with higher densities in the core and inner neighbourhoods, she said.
But as we go at the middle and outer suburbs … Were seeing lower densities. Were seeing infrequent public transport being served.
Dr Legacy said due to the lack of public transport and access to services, people living in outer suburbs are more car-dependent than inner city residents.
Although weve had policies in place for about 30 years related to 15-minute cities… but I think we have failed to deliver that, particularly in the areas that are underserved by high quality public transport.
