TuneTo15 (Adapting the 15-minute City concept to functional urban areas) (2025-2027)

In recent years, many cities have incorporated the concept of the 15-minute city as a guideline in their planning strategies. This concept envisions urban planning in which all important places and services for daily needs (work, shops, schools, doctor's offices, leisure activities, and much more) should be accessible within 15 minutes, preferably on foot or by bicycle. The goal is to create a livable, sustainable, and functional city focused on short distances and a high quality of life. However, many cities that pursue this approach are facing public and political backlash. Some reject the redesign of urban spaces, while others fear increased gentrification due to the upgrading of public space. Criticism also comes from people who do not live in urban centers and feel their needs are being neglected.

The TuneTo15 project explores these transformation conflicts. It aims to develop solutions for urban and transport planning that can expand the 15-minute city concept beyond urban core areas and make it more spatially equitable and socially inclusive. The results will be presented as a practical tool for city administrations and other stakeholders in urban transition processes. The goals of TuneTo15 are:

(1) to identify the limits and potentials of the 15mC concept in diverse spatial settings, especially beyond the urban core;
(2) to understand the impacts of the concept on different social groups and identify conflicts between them; and
(3) to engage municipal stakeholders in co-creative processes to develop implementation and conflict-resolution guidelines.

TuneTo15 focuses on case studies in Berlin, Hanover, Vienna, and Ljubljana and their functional urban areas. The methodological approach combines quantitative (accessibility) analyses with qualitative analyses of social conflict dimensions. S&W is conducting the quantitative (accessibility) analyses in the four international case studies.

S&W's project partners are the German Institute of Urban Affairs (difu), the Vienna University of Technology, Landscape Architecture and Urban Transformation OG (LAUT), the Anton Melik Geographical Institute of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and the City of Vienna. Associated partners are the Hanover Region, the City of Hanover, the Berlin Senate Department for Mobility, Transport, Climate Protection and the Environment, the Salzburg Institute for Spatial Planning and Housing, the Fairkehrswende Vienna association, and the Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona.

The project is funded as part of the EU funding program "Driving Urban Transitions to a Sustainable Future" (DUT), in Germany by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR).