Urban Green Tourism and the '15-minute City'
I Visited Auburn, New
York, a Potential '15-minute City'
A trendy subject of discussion now among urban planners and
city leaders is how to become the newest “15-minute city,” a designation that
would be achieved when all residents can walk, bicycle, drive or take public
transportation to places that meet all their essential needs in no more than 15
minutes.
It is being discussed to lower carbon emissions, which could
only help us in confronting the massive climate change challenges we face. It is also discussed as an improvement to the
quality of life. Less time commuting in
cars on crowded roads sounds great to me! In addition, I think 15-minute cities can become
attractive tourist destinations. Urban
green tourists might enjoy visiting a 15-minute city because, in my opinion, it
is so much more pleasurable to walk or take public transportation to places as
a tourist. Navigation becomes more
manageable. You can see more sites in
less time. On principle, you would be
supporting a city that is working with the environment.
It is no wonder that a major city like Cleveland, Ohio is
studying how to become a 15-minute city. Cleveland’s mayor, Justin Bibb, announced his
goal and in July 2023, the city introduced legislation to revitalize areas
along high regularity public transit lines, those bus and rail lines that have stops in 15-minute intervals. New businesses
offering services would go into places that are now abandoned. The
city is also looking for a consultant to create its Citywide Mobility Plan to
help all people get around town without cars in better ways. To be sure, the motives are for improving life
for residents. I hope city leaders
realize how good this could be for tourism as well.
I visited Auburn, New York years ago. It is now identified as a place that has the
potential to be a wonderful 15-minute city!
According to the National League of Cities website, Auburn’s present
city layout is a 15-minute radius for bicyclists, so with the geography as such
and probably with some more improvement, it would be poised to become a true,
15-minute city. When I visited Auburn, I
ate at the Prison City Pub and Brewery, a popular restaurant in a city that
does have a prison right downtown – in case you wondered - and I was within a
6-minute walk to Trip Advisor’s top-rated attraction, the Seward House
Museum. William Henry Seward was
secretary of state under Abraham Lincoln during the U.S. Civil War and led the
effort on acquiring the land of present-day Alaska under the Andrew Johnson
administration in 1867, according to the museum’s website. He had an interesting life for other reasons,
too, which I learned when I visited the museum.
I could have walked to the museum after lunch on a nice day. I was so happy to read that Auburn was being
discussed in the context of 15-minute cities.
As a society, I hope we can find ways to be tourists in
environmentally responsible ways. I read
about urban green tourism in a paper written by Marion Joppe of Ryerson Polytechnic
University and Rachel Dodds from the Green Tourism Association. They are based in Toronto, Canada. The paper,
which is about 20 years old, is called “Urban Green Tourism: Applying
ecotourism principles to the city,” and they define urban green tourism as,
quoted directly below:
Urban green tourism, as defined by
the members of the association, is composed of four attributes: Environmental
responsibility – protecting, conserving, and/or enhancing nature and the
physical environment to ensure the long-term health of the life-sustaining
ecosystem; Local economic vitality – Supporting local economies, businesses and
communities to ensure economic vitality and sustainability; Cultural
sensitivity – Respecting and appreciating cultures and cultural diversity so as
to ensure the continued well-being of local or host cultures; and Experiential
richness – Providing enriching and satisfying experiences through active,
personal and meaningful participation in, and involvement with, nature, people,
places and/or cultures.
From my own layperson point of view, I think urban green tourism goes well with the 15-minute city concept. Cleveland can seek its 15-minutes of fame by
touting its own potential as a 15-minute city.
I wholeheartedly support the idea of making cities accessible by more
modes of travel and creating neighborhoods where residents can find all they
need within a 15-minute commute. As
tourists, the choices we make in travel destinations depend on a lot, but from my
perspective, this is an exciting trend.
I hope cities can adapt, and I hope they allow for tourism in the
planning. I think it would mean more
opportunities – including more access to recreational features – for everyone.
A Note About Auburn, New York
According to Google Maps, Auburn, New York is about a 5-hour
car ride from Cleveland, Ohio. It is
part of the Finger Lake region of New York.
Works Cited
“Cleveland takes big steps toward Mayor Bibb’s vision for a
15-minute city.” City of Cleveland. 17 July, 2023. https://mayor.clevelandohio.gov/cleveland-takes-big-steps-toward-mayor-bibbs-vision-15-minute-city#:~:text=Monday%2C%20July%2017%2C%202023%20%E2%80%94,bike%20ride%2C%20or%20transit%20trip.
Funk, Kyle and Julia Glickman. “Exploring the 15-minute City
Concept and Its Potential for Communities of All Sizes.” National League of
Cities, 2023, https://www.nlc.org/article/2023/06/13/exploring-the-15-minute-city-concept-and-its-potential-for-communities-of-all-sizes/
Joppe, Marion, and Rachel Dodds, “Urban Green Tourism: Applying ecotourism principles to the city.” Travel and Tourism Research Association – Canada Chapter, Toronto, 4-6, Oct. 1998, pp. 33-39. Chicago State University, https://www.csu.edu/cerc/researchreports/documents/UrbanGreenTourism1998.pdf
“William Henry Seward.” Seward House Museum, 2023, https://sewardhouse.org/history/william-henry-seward
