The 15-Minute City: Urban Proximity as an Administrative Architecture

Abstract

The 15-minute city is presented as an urban planning concept — a walkable, mixed-use environment where daily needs are accessible without motorized transport. This paper reads it differently: as an administrative architecture with specific implications for mobility, access, and control. The analysis examines the structural logic of proximity-based urban design — what it optimizes for, what it constrains, and what it makes technically possible that was previously impractical. The paper does not argue for or against the 15-minute city as policy. It argues that any urban design produces an access structure, and that structure deserves direct analysis.