The 15 minute village

Some of us may be familiar with the ‘15 minute city’ concept first articulated by the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo. The basic idea is that every resident in Paris should be able to access everything they need for work, health, shopping, education, recreation and daily living within 15 minutes of walking or biking. This concept has been picked up by many cities and helps to drive their planning decisions, particularly as they address climate change through reducing vehicle ownership and traffic, repurposing streets towards more green space and pedestrian use, and generally trying to make cities more attractive and livable.

Why on earth would we need such a concept in Bayfield, which seems so bikeable and walkable already?

However, as I go about my daily routine in the village, I notice that, although these stores are within my 15 minute radius, I can’t really bike or walk safely to the pharmacy, the fish store, Foodland or any other establishment on Hwy 21. And it’s dangerous to get to the north shore by walking or biking (especially with 6 grandchildren), despite the Waterfront Trail marked just over the bridge. So, Bayfield seems quiet in the village proper, with pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles all coexisting fairly respectfully (this has been my experience at any rate). But, if we are thinking about planning, land use, traffic & people movement, managing intensification, safety, reducing our carbon footprint, encouraging a green and healthy life style and all the elements of a vision for the next 20 years, I think we need to recognize that it’s very difficult to exist in Bayfield currently as either a tourist, cottager, boater, business owner or resident without a lot of car use, and that all recent development (both residential and commercial) seems to have been done with the assumption that we will drive. If we continue to develop and plan with this assumption, and if there is a significant rise in population, then we may destroy the very things that make Bayfield attractive, without really noticing that it is happening.

Obviously we’re not going to get rid of pickups and cars (although we may hope that most are EV’s in 20 years), but can we imagine living, working and holidaying in a place where the guiding vision is ’the 15 minute village’ and each bit of planning (and lobbying the provincial government on issues related to hwy 21) has been in the service of making this vision a reality?