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“Walkability” is one of those buzzwords that’s occasionally seized on by certain types as proof of some kind of elitist/urbanist conspiracy—and the elitists don’t necessarily help. Take the “15-minute City” concept. As
notes, academics took a timeless idea and, by rebranding it in convoluted jargon, made it sound alien and threatening. But the basic concept is simple: wouldn’t it be great if you could live within a short walk of most of your daily needs? In our hyperpartisan and culture-war-obsessed political times, this concept of a neighborhood—the basic social building block of human civilization—was compared to an open-air prison. Nobody wants to be controlled, least of all by some namby-pamby pencil-pusher with soft hands and an e-bike.Of course, walkable neighborhoods aren’t conspiracies—they’re just really good places to live, and people pay dearly to enjoy them.
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