We’re lonely – are 15-minute cities the solution?

Will living locally make you happier and healthier?

Earlier this week, I spoke at the Melbourne Conversations event about the 15-Minute City and its role in shaping the future of urban life. You had me and some seriously qualified city-nerds talking about our favourite topic for a solid hour, trying not to delve into the details of bike lane widths and public transport scheduling.

The 15 Minute City idea is simple: a great neighbourhood is one where you can meet most of your daily needs within walking distance from home. Think schools, shops, parks, medical care, childcare, and even your workplace.

It’s not revolutionary, people have been living like this since humans started forming villages, so why does it matter?

It’s all about the village

Villages are the places we raise our families, build community, birthplace of the marketplace and commerce. Villages are where we raised our kids, supported our elders, traded goods, shared news. They’re the birthplace of community. But somewhere along the way, as cities expanded and sprawled, we lost the village—and with it, a sense of connection.

Growing pains

Turns out, we’ve good at building roads, ok at building houses (but not enough of them) and have overall done a pretty poor job of providing for our basic needs at a local level as our cities have grown. Less than 10% of residents in most major Australian cities live in neighbourhoods that meet the core criteria of a 15-minute city.

Less than 10% of residents in most major Australian cities live in neighbourhoods that meet the core criteria of a 15-minute

According to the International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, only 5.5% of Melbourne and 7.6% of Adelaide met the criteria for 20 minute cities as a measure of having sufficient access to healthy food, recreational resources, community resources, public open space and public transport.

It’s now harder to achieve the “village vibe” in modern cities. More people. More distance. More infrastructure. It costs more to deliver services, and it’s harder to plan for growth that actually feels human. And while technology has made many things easier—remote work, telehealth, AI agents to order your groceries—it's also made it easier to stay inside, and harder to connect with the people around us.

So, does the 15-minute city still matter if all your needs can be met with a swipe on your smartphone?

Yes. And here’s why.

Beyond the buildings and infrastructure, cities are social places. It’s this softer human element that’s most valuable—and most at risk of being displaced.

We’re lonely

Loneliness is on the rise. And it’s not just a bad feeling—it’s a public health issue. In fact, loneliness increases the risk of heart disease, stroke, dementia and early death. In fact being socially disconnected is now considered as harmful as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

In Australia, 1 in 3 people report feeling lonely regularly, according to the Ending Loneliness Together report. The rate is even higher among young people. A 2023 study by Swinburne University and VicHealth found that more than half of Gen Z felt lonely all or most of the time.

Remote work, while convenient, hasn’t helped. When we remove the incidental connections of daily life, making eye contact with a stranger on the train, grabbing a coffee from the local cafe, and chatting to a colleague - we strip away the small social interactions that make us feel like we belong.

Changing social ties and technology

If we want to start addressing loneliness we need to understand how it works. Social researchers talk about two types of human relationships: bonding capital (close ties with family and friends) and bridging capital (weaker ties like neighbours, baristas, and gym buddies). Bridging capital is what cities are uniquely positioned to support.

We’re often good at maintaining strong ties with friends, but weak ties have progressively moved the weak ties to the realms of social media scrolling and reddit threats (no judgment). But now strong ties are changing too. Over half of Gen Z prefer to meet online rather IRL, and certainly prefer to text rather than phone chat.

There’s a surge wave of AI companions hitting the market, many of which offer greater benefits, particularly around loneliness, but these only help with a part of the social connection we need. Sure, an AI companion might be your personal therapist, coach and cheerleader all in one—but it doesn’t replace eye contact, the casual hello from your barista, or the recognition you feel when someone in your local dog park knows your pet’s name. These are the interactions that make us feel seen. They build community and belonging.

And they only happen in person.

Future suburbs: Why the 15-minute city matters

As our worlds move more online, our loneliness increases. Local neighbourhoods - 15-minute cities - create the conditions for these weak ties to flourish. They make it easier to show up in person. To bump into other parents at school drop-off. To get to know your GP, your pharmacist, your barista.

It’s not just about more efficient transport and services planning (although those are critical too). It’s about making it easier to belong.

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📣 Do you live in a 15 Minute Neighbourhood?

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