by Tim Schaefer, Sunnyside Resident
Last year, in May 2022, I wrote how Hillhurst Sunnyside is a 15-minute neighbourhood, an urban design concept where most daily activities can be accomplished within a 15-minute human powered journey from your home.
This wasn’t news; the area has been this way since the 1900s when it was built. In fact, all cities and towns used to be built this way. Things only changed in the 1950s when car centric development became the focus. So, the 15-minute concept is just taking the best practices of the walkable 1920s and applying them to our car dominated 2020s.
Earlier this year, the ‘15-minute city’ began to receive quite a bit of attention but not for its merits of walkable convenience. Instead, it’s been manipulated, mostly in bad faith, as a dystopian initiative to control individual freedoms like in Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games. This conspiracy is strangely based on the premise that somehow once everything is a short walk nearby, the authorities will be able to confine your movement. This is a real stretch, but some have held protests over it.
When you think about it, do you have greater freedom when you have multiple viable mobility options, and when many things are close by? Or is there greater freedom when there’s only one viable way to travel (must own car) and you must travel very far to reach most things (must consume lots of energy)? Kind of makes you question the motives of the conspiracy messengers.
Without going down that rabbit hole any further, let’s revisit the 15-minute question and why it’s a great thing.
Is Hillhurst Sunnyside a 15-minute neighbourhood? To answer this question, let’s look at the distance you can cover in a 15-minute human powered journey and whether most daily activities could be accomplished in that space.
The average walking speed for an able-bodied adult is 5 km/h. This means that in 15 minutes, you should be able to travel 1.25 km. For simplicity and to factor different walking abilities, let’s round that down to 1 km. How far will a 1 km walk get you in Hillhurst Sunnyside?
Looking at a map of our neighbourhood (see image), we have a uniquely shaped space that is bounded by the Bow River to the south, McHugh Bluff to the NE, and several streets on the NW and west sides. The geographical centre of the neighbourhood is in Kensington at the corner of 3 Ave and 10 St NW.
Coincidentally, this spot is also adjacent to two grocery stores, as well as several shops, and restaurants. These are all typical destinations for your daily needs. For the purposes of answering the question whether Hillhurst Sunnyside is a 15-minute neighbourhood, we’ll use the corner of 3 Ave and 10 St NW as the evaluation point.
Drawing a 1 km radius circle from this centre point (see image again), almost all the neighbourhood is covered except for the outer edges.
What this means is yes, Hillhurst Sunnyside is almost entirely a 15-minute neighbourhood just by walking! Within this space we have shops, restaurants, businesses, as well as grade schools for our kids, and SAIT for post-secondary studies. Not only is the distance 1 km, the quality of our sidewalks is also good, which allows us to safely reach everything by foot. Sadly, that’s not the case in other places.
Let’s not forget that not everyone is able to walk very far or even walk at all. This is where human powered wheels, e-powered assisted wheels, and accessibility devices become great tools in allowing almost everyone to enjoy the 15-minute lifestyle without having to use a car. It also brings those living outside the 1 km radius into the 15-minute fold because you can cover more distance in 15 minutes on wheels.
Like our sidewalks, Hillhurst Sunnyside has some good pathways and quiet residential streets (some with painted mobility lanes) that make wheeling options viable for many, but not for all. That’s where the addition of protected mobility lanes on some key streets will make human powered and e-assisted wheels a safe option for many more to move around the area.
Yes, Hillhurst Sunnyside is a 15-minute neighbourhood, and it has been for over 100 years. Having the freedom to safely move about by various means is part of what makes this place so great! Having everyday destinations right in the neighbourhood is also a great time saver. Driving to a destination within Hillhurst Sunnyside or beyond is also an option and choice for many and let’s not forget Calgary Transit and taxis are options too.
Please remember that the idea of a 15-minute city isn’t about removing the freedom to drive as some conspirators may try to peddle. Rather, it’s about removing car dependence by providing freedom of choice to move about safely on foot, on human powered wheels, or e-assisted wheels. Those mode options become viable when you don’t have to travel far to reach your destination of choice.
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