Mainstream Media attacking 'conspiracy theorist anti-vaxxers' over 15-minute city implementation

It began as a banal urban planning concept. Then it became a beating stick for conspiracy theorists.
The French academic Carlos Moreno proposed the “15-minute city” in 2016 as a way of countering postwar urban sprawl. By dividing cities into walkable neighbourhoods, residents could access shops, pharmacies and schools within a 15-minute walk.

Seven years on, the idea has attracted such controversy that five protesters were arrested in Oxford last weekend after gathering for a rally against it.

At the protest, among the placards railing against “green tyranny” and the “climate con” were leaflets telling residents that excess deaths in Covid-19 were not what they seemed. This may seem rather tangential. In fact, the pandemic is key to how the idea of 15-minute cities became such a red rag to conspiracy theorists.