In praise of the ‘15-minute city’ — the mundane planning theory terrifying conspiracists

The frightening prospect of greener, people-friendly streets and convenient amenities has sent the online right – and Tory MPs – into a tailspin, writes Oliver Wainwright

There are lots of good reasons to interrogate the cute logic of the 15-minute city, but the threat of our rights being curtailed by travel permits isn’t one of them.

There’s an international socialist conspiracy afoot, and it wants to make it easier to walk to the shops. Fringe forces of the far left are plotting to take away our freedom to be stuck in traffic jams, to crawl along clogged ring roads and trawl the streets in search of a parking spot. 

The liberty of the rush-hour commute, the sanctity of the out-of-town shopping centre, and the righteousness of the suburban food desert is under threat as never before. The name of this chilling global movement? The “15-minute city”.