https://thecritic.co.uk/have-we-really-lost-the-plot/

" Pundits continue to sneer, dismissing critics of 15 minute cities (a critique, as the great Simon Cooke points out, that it’s perfectly reasonable to make) as “conspiracy theorists”. "

https://simoncooke.substack.com/p/smart-cities-are-just-muni...

"In this explanation we begin to see just how authoritarian the urban green agenda has become - not a surprise given that Moreno is an advocate of ‘smart cities’ and literally profits from authoritarian smart city technology:"

The problem only arises if you remove that option or if you penalise that action in some way.

You could just as well be saying "why not let people drive drunk and at 100mph on residential roads, and let others can choose not to?"

Sure we could say that... or we could say it's legal to drive your car onto historically pedestrian-only paths.

But we elect people to try to make decisions that benefit the most people as best as possible, and it turns out that most people don't think that "any road that currently allows cars must always allow cars" is an inalienable rule that must be followed.

Yes we should debate these things - I assume very few people would support removing all speed limits or lowering speed limits to 2mph on all roads, though there's bound to be some variance in views about what goes too far or not enough.

But in this topic of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods, you've got one side saying "wouldn't it be nice if residential side roads stopped being hugely used (thanks to GPS routing apps) by through-traffic, and therefore made much better for the people living there, and for pedestrians and cyclists" while the other side instead of engaging on that actual debate instead jumps to "they want to lock us into 15min areas we won't ever be allowed to leave! It's climate fascism!"

There is nothing preventing 15-minute cities from having both pedestrian walkways as well as roads.. as most cities ALREADY do.

And oh, by the way, even a 15-minute city will have to make space for roads for vehicles. When you change houses, you aren't carrying your furniture on foot between houses, are you? or for that matter, when you call emergency (911), the cops and emergency workers are not arriving by foot. Or when you make a house, the construction equipment, material etc are not being carried in by foot either. Also, the shops in your neighbourhood are not been replenished by suppliers carrying in products on their back.

So this idea that you can suddenly replace all roads with pedestrian paths is just completely unworkable.

The block is to prevent people using the small residential street as a through-path for motorists from other areas, not to prevent any vehicle from ever using the roads.

Yes, polling indicates the majority would like to live in a 15 minute city, however that poll does not mention restricting vehicles. And of course I agree with it personally, minus the roadblocks.

People are not opposed to the concept, they are opposed to the vehicle restrictions, and the latter is what's riling up conspiracy theorists.

So what? That's what cities do. They balance needs.

They weren't told that it would expand the quantity, scope or role vehicles either, so there's nothing deceptive here.

They're selling the vision, people like the vision, so they'll execute on it assuming conspiratorial nuts don't get in the way :)

The future doesn't need to involve having exactly the same role and scope for personal-use vehicles. Change is okay! We've way over-indexed towards the needs of cars and under-indexed on the needs of human beings. It's time to revisit that contract. And look, if people don't like it, the roadblocks can come down after we give it the ol' college try. Remember the status quo is the result of arbitrary decisions and compromise, it doesn't represent a local or global optima.

So I say bring on the roadblocks.

Same if someone were to die in a house fire, because the fire brigade could not get there on time? I personally believe that those responsible for implementing this scheme should see time behind bars, possibly for criminal negligence, should that happen.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11925437/Ministers-...

By the way, in the comments section of that Daily Mail article, the majority of the readers disagree with the blockades. I'm not sure if that's representative of the whole of the general public, but it certainly looks like most people don't like it.