The "new" 15 minute neighbourhoods are anything but a "new" idea and are part of the SMART cities agenda
Been thought about for quite a while
Mooching the internet and came across this interesting lot that I had forgotten about but first read a few years ago while looking at SMART motorways, the proliferation of ANPR cameras (may do a post one day on my information requests about this - more Government stupidity, buck passing and non-accountability) and the internet-of-things including 5G - I admit to having an interest in this and EMFs as Mrs Awkward has electromagnetic hypersensitivity.
One thing all these documents have in common is their flowery language and turn of phrase that sounds so reasonable - until you actually think about what it really means.
Notice how many of the UN generated phrases are appearing in “local” documents:
https://unhabitat.org/programme/people-centered-smart-cities
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-set-to-lead-the-way-for-smart-cities
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/information-economy-strategy
https://www.rtpi.org.uk/research/2021/march/20-minute-neighbourhoods/
This UK Gov document is from 2013 and Arup is mentioned as a contributor:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/246019/bis-13-1209-smart-cities-background-paper-digital.pdf
In it is this:
Intelligent transport systems: Traffic monitoring and management, congestion management, road user charging, emergency response, public information systems, smart parking, and integrated traffic light management;
Sound familliar?
Arup was commissioned by the UK Gov to look at the technology required for a SMART city (pg 12 in above link) is also a major contributor to other papers I’ve linked to so it seems all reports and plans go back to the same UK Gov commissioned Arup report to justify SMART cities.
Circle jerk is the phrase that springs to mind.
Here they are with lots of links:
https://www.arup.com
https://www.arup.com/perspectives/publications/research/section/smart-city-opportunities-for-london
And this lot getting involved along with the same old participants that crop up over and over such as Mastercard, the World Bank and so on:
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/08/what-is-a-smart-city/ pg18 has some points that tie-in to other issues I’ve mentioned.
https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_C4IR_GFC_on_Cities_Inclusion_2022.pdf
From 2018:
https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WP_Global_Future_Council_Cities_Urbanization_report_2018.pdf
And why the push for a 20 mph speed limit you may be wondering?
It’s here:
https://www.who.int/news/item/22-03-2021-campaign-launched-to-make-30-km-h-streets-the-norm-for-cities-worldwide
But this actually follows on from this 2017 document about managing speed:
http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/10665/254760/1/WHO-NMH-NVI-17.7-eng.pdf
And look it’s the UNECE:
https://unece.org/housing/regional-action-plan-2030
All ties into this earlier post about the UNECE’s roles in the EU transport plans:
