Is the army going to guard fences around Zagreb's historical center, under renovation plans that draw on a "15-minute city" urban planning concept? No, that's not true: The concept, in which people can access most of their daily needs or services within a 15-minute walk, bike or public transport ride, is mentioned in Zagreb's 2021 urban renovation plan in relation to improvements in the city center's transport system. The plan does not restrict the movement of people, goods and services across the city, as this post and detractors of the concept allege, therefore fences or the use of military guards in Zagreb are not planned or required.
The claim originated in a video (archived here) on October 15, 2023, with a caption (translated from Croatian to English by Lead Stories staff) that read:
Do you know that the mayor has already signed us into slavery with fences in what he calls the 15-minute city? Do you know that this means that you will no longer be able to leave the borders within a 15 minute walk, and the fences will be guarded by the army? (Immigrants, I guess)
This is what the post looked like on TikTok at the time of writing:
(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Wed Oct 25 09:17:38 2023 UTC)
The 15-minute city model aims to reduce car traffic and carbon dioxide emissions, as well as increase the sustainability and well-being of citizens. The term was coined by Professor Carlos Moreno, an urbanist who received the 2021 OBEL AWARD for his urban theory and model.
The 2021 Complete Renovation Program Of Zagreb's Historical Core mentions the "15-minute city" concept as the vision for plans to improve mobility and the transport system in the historical core of the capital. It lists a number of the basic principles, such as providing easy access to goods and services, enabling a variety of apartment types to enable more people to live closer to their workplace, availability of green spaces and allowing citizens to work either remotely or close to their residences by having more small offices, joint workspaces, retail and hospitality spaces.
According to the renovation program, the 15-minute city concept is designed to promote denser and mixed development of the city center space around the public transport service, thereby reducing residents' dependence on their own vehicles and instead providing reliable public transport to enable car-free access to other parts of the city.
The claim that the urban planning concept will require fences and military guards to restrict movement has previously been debunked by Lead Stories, here.
