Assessing the applicability of the 15-minute city: Insights from a spatial accessibility perspective

IF 6.8 1区工程技术 Q1 ECONOMICS

Transportation Research Part A-Policy and Practice Pub Date : 2025-07-07 DOI:10.1016/j.tra.2025.104579

Xuan Feng , Ning Jia , Xiaohan Su , Matthew D. Adams , Yongqi Deng , Shuai Ling

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

The concept of a 15-minute city proposes that residents should have access to all basic services within a short walking distance from their homes. However, most previous studies have focused on macro-level urban planning or land use configurations, while fine-grained, community-level evaluations that integrate actual travel constraints such as road network structures and the spatial distribution of service facilities remain underdeveloped. To explore the current state of the 15-minute city’s implementation at the community level and identify potential improvements, this study takes City of Toronto as an empirical case, and incorporates road network-based isochrones into an improved two-step floating catchment area model to calculate the spatial distribution of accessibility. A geographically weighted regression (GWR) model is used to analyze the impact of road network structure and the number of facilities on accessibility. The analysis results indicate that current urban infrastructure cannot meet the travel demands of the 15-minute city, particularly for walking. In the case of other “x-minute cities,” extending the travel time threshold is associated with improved accessibility in certain urban areas, but these benefits are limited to regions around service hubs, while accessibility in other areas tends to show a decrease in accessibility. This study offers recommendations for improving the 15-minute accessibility. Namely, if policymakers aim to encourage more residents to meet their daily needs within a 15-minute radius, a targeted increase in the number of facilities in specific areas is necessary. This is particularly crucial for pedestrians in suburban areas, where adding more facilities is essential to enhance accessibility. Lastly, in areas where facilities are lacking, the benefits of solely promoting walkable communities are limited to the urban environment, and encouraging cycling could be a more effective strategy.

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15分钟城市适用性评估：来自空间可达性视角的见解

15分钟城市的概念提出，居民应该在离家不远的步行距离内获得所有基本服务。然而，以往的研究大多集中在宏观层面的城市规划或土地利用配置上，而结合道路网络结构和服务设施空间分布等实际出行约束因素的细粒度、社区层面的评估仍不发达。为探索15分钟城市在社区层面的实施现状，并寻找改进空间，本研究以多伦多市为实证案例，将基于路网的等时线纳入改进的两步浮动集水区模型，计算可达性的空间分布。采用地理加权回归（GWR）模型分析路网结构和设施数量对可达性的影响。分析结果表明，目前的城市基础设施不能满足15分钟城市的出行需求，尤其是步行需求。在其他“x分钟城市”的情况下，延长出行时间阈值与某些城市地区的可达性改善有关，但这些好处仅限于服务中心周围的地区，而其他地区的可达性往往会下降。本研究提出了改善15分钟可达性的建议。也就是说，如果政策制定者的目标是鼓励更多的居民在15分钟的半径范围内满足他们的日常需求，那么有针对性地增加特定区域的设施数量是必要的。这对郊区的行人来说尤其重要，在郊区增加更多的设施对于提高可达性至关重要。最后，在缺乏设施的地区，仅仅促进步行社区的好处仅限于城市环境，鼓励骑自行车可能是一个更有效的策略。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Transportation Research Part A-Policy and Practice 工程技术-运输科技

CiteScore

13.20

自引率

7.80%

发文量

257

审稿时长

9.8 months

期刊介绍： Transportation Research: Part A contains papers of general interest in all passenger and freight transportation modes: policy analysis, formulation and evaluation; planning; interaction with the political, socioeconomic and physical environment; design, management and evaluation of transportation systems. Topics are approached from any discipline or perspective: economics, engineering, sociology, psychology, etc. Case studies, survey and expository papers are included, as are articles which contribute to unification of the field, or to an understanding of the comparative aspects of different systems. Papers which assess the scope for technological innovation within a social or political framework are also published. The journal is international, and places equal emphasis on the problems of industrialized and non-industrialized regions. Part A''s aims and scope are complementary to Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Part C: Emerging Technologies and Part D: Transport and Environment. Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review. Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour. The complete set forms the most cohesive and comprehensive reference of current research in transportation science.