Why are 14 minute cities controversial?

> how can one possibly arrange that the work location for even a majority of residents is within 15 mins travel? Have a multi use city centre with housing, shopping, offices, pubs, etc. all in amongst each other. The way our cities were originally built basically, but at some point we adopted the American model of building "suburban" housing miles away from all amenities and places of employment. This in theory works better for America because they have so much unused land, and their fuel is cheaper so everyone can own a car much easier. But we just started copying that model with no thoughts for our own spacial needs. The amount of what could have been good housing that was knocked down in the 60s as they moved people out the city was a disgrace, and I think a big regret for the city now. The buildings of that same style that survived are now very highly sought after for housing. Here in Glasgow if you live anywhere along the Subway line you can get into town in 15 mins max, and you can walk from one side of the city centre to the other in about 20 minutes. So you could conceivably live within 15 minutes of everything you need here quite easily. Personally I've lived in such a situation for the last 10 years (10 minute walk to work, 15 minute walk to uni, 10 minute walk to the shops of the city centre and 30 seconds walk to the nearest grocery/food shops). I guess you could say I've always been a fan of this idea, since long before it was given a name. > how do you either get companies to relocate or people to move to make this possible? Companies need the councils permission to develop land, it's not like they just buy it and build offices and tell the council this is here now. So the council (or government or whoever deals with it) would dictate where companies are allowed to set up. It's (perhaps obviously but it has to be said - people expect everything all at once these days) not something that can be done overnight, just more something to aim for over the next few decades. There is a lot of empty old office buildings in the centre of Glasgow currently that could be used, although companies currently seem to prefer building their own offices from the ground up (still around the city centre though, we've seen a lot of development in that way in the last few years). So these old office buildings in the centre could be converted into housing. A quick example; the "new towns" of the 1950s that moved people out of the city centres (here the main two are Cumbernauld and East Kilbride) are all now dying a bit of a death, with employment opportunities dwindling and people being isolated there; both socially and economically. By converting some of the old city centre building stock into housing (and most of it is architecturally stunning listed buildings, it needs to be saved somehow) it would (in theory) allow some of these people to move back into the city. > How are you going to change the shopping habits of millions who LIKE using out of town shopping areas where they can buy large amounts at a decent price and conveniently transport it home, all in one go? From where I live (right in the middle of the city) I have 3 massive suburban shopping centres (American style malls basically), within 15 minute drive at most in either direction (Silverburn, Braehead and the Forge). There are multiple supermarkets with car parks within a 5 minute drive of me (Morrisons or Lidl, with Tesco and Asda and additional 5 minutes away). So literally nothing needs to change here. That's in Glasgow anyway, maybe other cities aren't already so well set up. I don't know where you live that things are cheaper outside the city though, if anything it's the opposite here. Although mostly prices stay the same, for things like food chains (Subway in particular is bad for it) I've noticed the prices tend to go up a bit where they get less custom. > How are you going to arrange secure storage of all those bicycles people are supposed to adopt? There are already bike racks everywhere on the streets around here. The stairs in my flat close (and most other closes I've been in) have bikes chained to the railing all the way up (and you could just take the bike into your flat if you didn't trust it to be safe out there). There is a fully covered bike shelter at the bottom of my street too. Every place I've worked has storage for employees bikes. I don't see what the issue is? We have those public bikes too that seem to be used quite a bit. > How do i get my luggage carrying, child carrying cycle up 2 flights of stairs to my flat? The exact same way the people living in flats outside the city do. Why would it be any worse? If anything, to solve this you want housing to be concentrated in the city so that they are building 6+ story flats (that therefore have lifts) rather than the 3-4 story flats that don't have lifts.