Scenarios for a Post-Pandemic City: urban planning strategies and challenges of making “Milan 15-minutes city”

Abstract

This Covid-19 pandemic has put a strain on many developed world global cities, especially those with high population densities and high level of connectivity; European cities such as Milad, Paris, London, Madrid and Barcelona among others have experienced major outbreaks. Many cities are therefore experiencing a moment of global rethinking. In a few years, we have gone from an idea of extreme density that has led to the gentrification of megacities with ever smaller living spaces to completely antithetical proposals, such as the idea of " the 15-minutes city" where all services can be reached with a minimum travel time. Within this context, this paper aims to provide an overview of this concept and its discussion and application on the case of Milan, by conducting a desk research and analysing the official reports and documents. This paper discusses that the core idea of the 15-minute city is not new, as it can be traced back to the concept of Clarence Perry’s “neighborhood unit” in the early 1900s, as a self-contained residential neighbourhood, where essential services are accessible by walking distances. In the case of Milan, the “2020 Adaptation Strategy” confronts the second phase of the pandemic (after the major lockdowns in 2020) and makes references to creating a ‘15-minute city’, by redefining the spaces in neughbourhoods to meet the basic needs of its residence.