900 seconds

"The easier the better" should not be the goal

For a while now I’ve been trying to come up with the best way to express what I think about the idea of 15-minute cities.

I tried doing a stand-up about it but it didn’t work. There are some things that just aren’t funny.

I tried writing about it but got stuck at “It’s a massively idiotic and destructive idea”.

Luckily, there’s Substack and on Substack I found this post, which says everything I wanted to say, only much better. (I’m not done but do read the post)

The Domestication of City Dwellers

Then I saw the news that the Cambridgeshire County Council has approved a plan for a bus lane to relieve congestion on nearby roads. That bus lane would pass through an ancient orchard. And 500 trees would need to be cut.

Fret not, the backers of the bus lane said. We’ll plant some trees elsewhere and no damage will be done in the larger scheme of things. And the citizens of something called Cambourne will be able to get to Cambridge more quickly. On an electric bus, of course.

Cambridge is one of only three places I’ve ever called home in my life. It used to be a wonderful little town with tonnes of history and a lot of greenery. Now it’s going to get a new bus lane and 500 fewer fruit trees. I’m glad I no longer call it home.

A couple of days after the sad news about Coton Orchard I saw this video. In it, for those who dislike watching videos, a woman tries to get out of her neighbourhood. In a car. To go to work. Only she is stopped by a bunch of seemingly self-appointed neighbourhood wardens blocking her way.

Now, I don’t know about you but I am not, as a rule, an aggressive person. I don’t think aggression is particularly productive, physical or verbal. But as I watched this woman confront a wall of transition zombies I discovered I can be aggressive all right.

All I had to do was imagine the woman had a sick or hurt child in the car. And then I imagined that woman was me. Aggression suddenly seemed like the only way.

This is a scary thought. It is a scary prospect to see no alternative to violence. Unfortunately, it is not a distant prospect. It is quite immediate. In fact, it is already happening, with enraged drivers removing climate protesters from roads while the police watches on.

Once upon a time people used to live in small communities. Nobody needed to go anywhere much, so 15-minute cities were basically the default setting. Then civilisation grew and evolved, and small rural communities grew into megacities with millions living in them.

The idea of the 15-minute city aims to turn back time and re-create those ancient communities where nobody went anywhere much. The problem is that we are no longer the same people. We need to go places that are more than 15 minutes away from our homes by bus or car. Or plane, gods forbid. Sometimes we need to get to these places urgently.

Since most of us — at least those of us who don’t live in Oxford, which I see is way worse than Cambridge — would not voluntarily surrender the right of movement, it is, apparently, being taken away from us by force. This is a form of aggression. And aggression triggers self-defence mechanisms that are never pretty.

I currently live in a village that is large by local standards but it still takes me just about ten minutes to get to the central square. I don’t do that often and I certainly don’t do it during the cold months. During these months, if I need to go to the central square for groceries or anything else, I drive.

I also drive my daughter to school in the city. There is a school in the village but it’s not up to our standards, so we drive to the city. It’s a 20-minute drive. By bus, the trip would take more than an hour. School starts at 7:30 in the morning. There is just no way I’m getting my daughter up at 5 am so she can get ready and not be late.

My husband works in the city. Well, he works in and around the city because his work involves travelling. He and his co-workers do that travelling by car. Bus is not an option because they carry various equipment and materials and they have an eight-hour work day. Also, there aren’t bus routes to all the locations they need to go to.

We consider it our right to be able to get from home to any destination we need in the fastest and most comfortable way we can afford. There is no argument in this universe that can make us change our minds about that right.

The only thing that could force us to reconsider the use of this right is, well, force. And for that eventuality I have two wiry but surprisingly strong arms, two legs, a pair of quite heavy Diesel boots and a variety of supplementary tools we normally use in the garden. Except for the maces, which are decorative but can definitely double as the weapons they used to be once upon a time.

Is it going to come to this? To direct physical confrontation between people and climate zombies? I wholeheartedly hope not. Because that would be one really messy and ugly zombie apocalypse, nothing like in the movies. Hopefully someone would realise this before it’s too late and garden tools start flying.