Modeling the Efficacy of the 15-Minute City Using Large-Scale Mobility Data from the Perspective of Accessibility and User Choice: A Case Study on the Urban Food Environment

Abstract

The growing popularity and adoption of the 15-minute city, a concept aimed at improving physical accessibility to services and amenities, indicates a global effort towards making cities more equitable and sustainable. However, at it’s core, the 15- minute city implies that accessibility can be quantified by proximity, and that people are more likely to visit amenities that are physically closer to them. In this study, we investigate the relationship between choice and spatial proximity in the context of healthy food accessibility by modeling an individual’s choice to visit their closest grocery store, and the extent to which certain sociodemographic variables contribute to their choice.

Using logistic regression models on ∼ 7𝑀 grocery store visits from ∼ 72, 000 people in the Greater Boston area, we show that proximity is not a good proxy for accessibility, and that peoples’ behaviors differ widely by sociodemographic traits, time, and type of amenity. These results indicate that distance cannot be used as the primary basis of a holistic urban design or accessibility policy. Instead, effective policies will need to be tailored to specific communities and categories of amenities in order to promote sustainable and equitable cities.