Jonathan Lancaster

From where I live I can walk to my children's school, the local pub, a post office, a mini supermarket, various churches and a park, all within 15 minutes. During COVID, I worked (or mostly, applied for jobs) from home, the weather was great, I spent lots of time with my kids, and we played in the garden a lot, and went on great walks in the countryside. But I campaigned against lockdowns, and I am campaigning against the imposition of 15 minute neighbourhoods. Why? Because I know not everyone is like me. I know, or can imagine, that lots of people live in places with no services or facilities nearby, or don't have good mobility, or simply choose to live some distance from work or don't have good schools nearby, and rely on a car or van to live their life. Just as I could imagine that, during lockdowns, life was miserable for people who lived in a flat in a city, didn't have a garden or a park to go to, had to continue working while simultaneously home schooling their kids. And I care about those other people and what sort of society we are creating for ourselves and our children. And I can also see that both lockdowns and 15 minute cities are part of an agenda which involves less freedom, less mobility, and more control. It's one thing applauding people who choose to live their life within a small area and are able to; it's quite another to mandate it for everyone. What really troubles me, then, is the arguments that the people who support 15 minute cities come up with seem to amount to "well I can live my whole life within 15 minutes walk from home, so what's the problem?" Same energy as "Well I thought lockdown was wonderful" 🙄 I mean, how little imagination, how little vision, and how little empathy do you have to have to come out with statements like that? When did we become such an "I'm alright Jack" society?