Since the previous month an urban concept has entered public debate: a city of 15 minutes. Some suspect that behind the idyllic city that promotes closeness and well-being there is a closure structure that seeks to confine our lives in areas of ghettos and isolated bubbles to control society. Among the claims that have not been made is the ban on the use of private cars. The measures adopted at the end of 2020 were a preliminary test of a 15-minute city and now the model is spreading among European cities as the main urban design policy.

The urbanist Carlos Moreno has proposed to transform the parameter of time to urban and territorial ordination through chrono-urbanism, defining times from 15 to 30 minutes. Moreno is credited with the invention of the model and has denounced that, along with the publication of the book on urbanism of proximity, he has suffered persecution on social networks as ideologues of a plan that hides ungiven objectives.

Suppose that yes, among the goals of the 2030 Agenda is the establishment of a 15-minute city model and with social engineering in progress. Does this matter if our life is to get a day without a car? I have perceived contradictory fears of loss of freedom and totalitarianism, without referring to the way of life promoted by the model.

In the speeches of the leftist policies, a 15-minute city model has been acquired at the gates of the elections, and often the difficulties and consequences of the model do not get deeper. But the final goal of the 15 minutes, with broad theoretical bases, is to encourage love for the place where we live, as love is practiced in daily walk and close by. Maybe we should take the controversial city model to the debate about love.