<p>Welcome to another between-season bonus episode of Origin Story. This week Ian tells the story of 15-minute cities: the notion that every urban resident should live a 15-minute walk or bike ride away from all essential amenities. How did such a sensible and benign approach to urban planning give birth to a wild conspiracy theory about authoritarianism?</p> <p>We meet Clarence Arthur Perry, the first urban planner to protect city life from the rise of the automobile; Jane Jacobs, the urban theorist who championed mixed-use neighbourhoods in 1960s New York and prevented Robert Moses’ expressway from slicing through downtown Manhattan; and Carlos Moreno, the French-Colombian scientist who invented the 15-minute city in 2015.</p> <p>Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo made the policy a cornerstone of her mayoralty and a model for cities around the world. But as the pandemic melted people’s brains, Moreno’s innovation became demonised as a “war on motorists” and, worse, a “Stalinist” plot to confine citizens to their neighbourhoods — permanent lockdown. By the end of 2023, Rishi Sunak’s government was fluently speaking the language of online conspiracy theorists.</p> <p>What constitutes the ideal urban environment? How can planning make residents happier, healthier and safer? Why is the psychology of driving so weird? How did paranoia about 15-minute cities fuse with lockdown hysteria, anti-vax thinking, climate change denial and far-right fantasies to turn Moreno into “public enemy number one”? And will the 15-minute city prevail anyway?</p> <p>• See Origin Story <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bloomsbury-theatre/events/2026/apr/origin-story-live"><u>live at the Bloomsbury Theatre</u></a> on 15th April 2026: <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bloomsbury-theatre/events/2026/apr/origin-story-live"><u>https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bloomsbury-theatre/events/2026/apr/origin-story-live</u></a></p> <p>• Support Origin Story on<a href="https://www.patreon.com/originstorypod"><u> Patreon</u></a></p> <p>• Buy the Origin Stories books on<a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/centrism/ian-dunt/dorian-lynskey/9781399612890"><u> Centrism</u></a>,<a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/fascism/ian-dunt/dorian-lynskey/9781399612920"><u> Fascism</u></a> and<a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/conspiracy-theory/ian-dunt/dorian-lynskey/9781399612869"><u> Conspiracy Theory</u></a> </p> <p>• Subscribe to Origin Story on <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@OriginStorypod"><u>YouTube</u></a></p> <p><strong>Reading list</strong></p> <p>• Anonymous –<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1929/08/04/archives/city-of-cells-seen-created-by-auto-era-street-network-with-dwellers.html"><u> ‘City of “cells” seen created by auto era’</u></a>, New York Times (4 August 2029)</p> <p>• Anonymous – <a href="https://www.ube.ac.uk/whats-happening/articles/15-minute-city/"><u>‘A guide to 15-minute cities: why are they so controversial?</u></a>’, University of the Built Environment (2 December 2024)</p> <p>• Joseph Giovanni – <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1986/10/13/nyregion/apartment-builders-return-to-prewar-design.html"><u>‘Apartment builders return to prewar design’</u></a>, New York Times (13 October 1986)</p> <p>• Tiffany Hsu – <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/28/technology/carlos-moreno-15-minute-cities-conspiracy-theories.html"><u>‘He Wanted to Unclog Cities. Now He’s “Public Enemy No. 1.”’</u></a>, New York Times (28 March 2023)</p> <p>• Jane Jacobs – The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961)</p> <p>• The Life Well Lived, <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/6DSm9fVKbRSTCNohyyD6fT"><u>Episode 32</u></a>, podcast (19 August 2020)</p> <p>• Douglas Martin –<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/25/books/jane-jacobs-urban-activist-is-dead-at-89.html"><u> ‘Jane Jacobs, Urban Activist, Is Dead at 89</u></a>’, New York Times (25 April 2006)</p> <p>• Georgia Pozoukidou and Zoi Chatziyiannaki – <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/2/928"><u>‘15-Minute City: Decomposing the New Urban Planning Eutopia’</u></a>, MDPI (17 January 2021)</p> <p>• Georgia Pozoukidou and Margarita Andelidou – <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2624-6511/5/4/69"><u>‘Urban Planning in the 15-Minute City: Revisited under Sustainable and Smart City Developments until 2030’</u></a>, MDPI (12 October 2022)</p> <p>• Pallavi Sethi – <a href="https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/news/the-telegraph-misrepresents-15-minute-cities/"><u>‘The Telegraph misrepresents 15-minute cities’</u></a>, LSE (2 February 2026)</p> <p>• Camilla Turner – <a href="https://archive.ph/7goeq"><u>‘Labour opens door to “Stalinist” 15- minute cities across Britain’</u></a>, Telegraph (24 January 2026)</p> <p><br><em>Written and presented by Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey. Producer: Simon Williams. Music by Jade Bailey. Art by Jim Parrett. Logo by Mischa Welsh. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. </em><strong>Origin Story is a Podmasters production</strong></p><p> </p><p>Learn more about your ad choices. Visit <a href="https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices">podcastchoices.com/adchoices</a></p>