This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Wednesday, April 26,

2023. I'm Caleb Brown. The 15-minute city is a great idea for

those who want to live a car-free lifestyle or otherwise want walkable access to most of life's basic necessities.

Cato's Mark Joffey says there are many government policies that currently inhibit that kind of development.

But the push for the 15-minute city, he says, shouldn't punish folks who like suburbia just fine.

A 15-minute city is one where you can get from your home

to all the things that matter to you, like your work,

where you shop, where you drink coffee,

where you meet your friends. 15 minutes by walking or biking.

And I guess the couple of questions, one just to play Devil's Advocate.

What's wrong with that?

Well, I guess I'm the double because I live in a 15 minute city type of environment. I've lived in those type of environments for most of my life and I think I think they're pretty good and for people who want that type of lifestyle I think it should be available to them.

And so I guess what stands in the way of that? I would love that. I would love to be able to unleash my children into the city where I live to go do all manner of things and participate in public life as they see fit, but so many families are separated

from commerce and other engagement. They're separated from that by roads.

And those roads mean long distances.

Sometimes there are no sidewalks

that will connect you to this place or that.

And so what stands in the way of making that a reality for more people?

Well I think there are two issues as personal preferences and there's their zoning right so you know from a personal

preferences point of view I think you know, from a personal preferences point of view, I think, you know, some people have families and they want to, they want their own castle, and I don't want to put that in a derogatory or negative way, I think it's quite reasonable that if you have three young kids, you want them to be maybe protected from some of the kinds of people you might see in an urban environment.

And so you would prefer to live in a suburban environment or even a rural environment where you might be primarily car dependent.

And I think public policies should allow people to take that choice.

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