Conversations In: Can Governance and Innovation Deliver the 15-Minute City?

“Conversations In” represents a novel platform designed to stimulate dynamic and insightful dialogues amongst researchers, policy makers and industry professionals. It invites concise contributions that either respond to existing discussions or introduce fresh perspectives on specific nuances within the broader theme of the collection. Each article aims to spark and contribute to meaningful debates.For this “Conversations In” collection, we ask for contributions that address the question: can governance and innovation deliver the 15-minute city — or do they mostly produce branded plans that change very little?In the few years since the 15-minute city moved from a Paris pilot to a global urban brand, it has become two things at once: a planning aspiration adopted by C40, the European Union and dozens of municipalities, and a target of populist backlash, conspiracy narratives, and sharp academic critique. Between the glossy maps and the protest placards, a quieter problem has emerged. We know what the 15-minute city is supposed to look like. We know much less about which governance arrangements, fiscal levers, political coalitions, and technological or service innovations actually produce it on the ground — and on whose terms.This collection invites compelling opinion articles that engage the governance and innovation question directly. We are equally interested in contributions that defend the concept against its loudest critics and in those that argue its current implementation is, in measurable ways, failing. We particularly welcome perspectives on the regulatory tools and fiscal instruments that succeed or fail in shifting urban form; on how digital platforms, mobility-as-a-service, distributed energy and logistics, data-driven planning and civic-tech participation can support distributed urban functions, and the procurement, data-ownership and equity challenges stakeholders face as those innovations move from pilot to policy; on what the populist backlash reveals about democratic legitimacy in urban planning; on reframings from Global South, post-socialist and low-income-city contexts where the assumptions of mixed-use centrality break down; and on the honest limits of what proximity planning can govern when it meets housing affordability, racial equity, or climate adaptation.We seek voices from across disciplines and backgrounds — urban planners, geographers, mobility and infrastructure researchers, political scientists, technologists, policymakers, civic-tech practitioners and engaged citizens — who can move the conversation beyond branding, beyond backlash, and toward a defensible account of how proximity-based, sustainable urban form is actually delivered.Each article submitted should be no more than 1,500 words and can include one table and/or figure. Authors should select the Opinion article type when submitting their manuscripts to this call. Whilst opinion pieces from groups of authors are welcome, we ask that researchers consider the value of individual dialogue within this article collection as well.In recognition of the importance of this collection, waivers to Article Processing Charges are available to authors. Please reach out to the Editorial Office in advance of submitting at sustainable.cities@frontiersin.org for more information on how to access these waivers. Topic editors: Frontiers In Sustainable Cities Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/82482/conversations-in-can-governance-and-innovation-deliver-the-15-minute-city