How far are cities from the x-minute city vision? Examining current local travel behavior and land use patterns in Montreal, Canada

Abstract

In the past three years the 15-minute city planning concept has captured the attention of policy makers and the public worldwide. Some regions have included it in their planning goals and others modified it to 30 min to make it more attainable in their local context. The goal of this research is to measure whether the 15- or 30-minute city goals align with current travel behaviour and land use patterns in the North American context using Montreal, Canada as the case study. In doing so, we look at which destinations are cultivating local travel patterns consistent with the 15- and 30-minute city concepts and identify any unique qualities of these areas using the 2018 Montreal origin-destination travel diaries. Our bivariate analysis finds very few destinations in Montreal where a high number of trips and high percentage of trips are ending using a sustainable mode of transport and below the 15- or 30-minute travel time threshold. We further investigate the land use patterns that align with the 15- and 30-minute city to recommend realistic planning goals and policy interventions that match the North American context. The findings from this research can be of interest to transport professionals and policy makers trying to implement the 15- or 30- minute city concepts to their regions.