Dans son édition du mois de janvier 2021, le magazine Urban Solutions Magazine a publié un article sur la Ville de Paris “City Focus, New ways of living for a post-covid future ».
Pr Carlos Moreno a été interviewé dans le cadre de cette édition no18, dédiée à la thématique : Adapting to a Disrupted World.
“According to Carlos Moreno, “Smart City” Special Envoy of the Mayor of Paris and Scientific Director, Panthéon Sorbonne University-IAE Paris, “The 15-minute city is a polycentric city where density is made pleasant, where proximity is vibrant and where social intensity is real.” Thought to fundamentally reshape how people move, work, live and play, these ideas have gained even more traction during the COVID-19 pandemic. “
“Paris’s 15-minute city plan also looks to improve quality of life and reconnect neighbours by encouraging multiple uses for existing infrastructure. As Moreno notes, “Flexibility is at the core of the concept. During the pandemic, we’ve seen the conversion of parking spaces into cafés bringing joy and life to Paris.” Roads were converted into cycleways. The 15-minute city plan also envisions that libraries and stadiums could be used outside standard hours, while nightclubs could double up as gyms during the day. Schools could function as parks and play spaces over the weekend. As Hidalgo says, “The objective is to remodel school courtyards and open them to everyone in the summer outside of school hours.”
“The 15-minute city proposes a desirable proximity, a city that we want to live in. This crisis is a big opportunity to change our lifestyle and define an urban organisation which addresses social and ecological challenges and supports sustainable economic development. But it is also about caring for all inhabitants and being close to public services.”
“Moreno thinks the 15-minute city is part of the solution in building urban resilience: “This [approach] proposes to tackle environmental, social and sanitary challenges that were revealed by the pandemic. These challenges are common to cities around the world, and it might be an answer for many of them.”
