The result, according to misinformed conspiracy theorists: a nightmarish scenario in which residents would be confined in fenced-off open-air prisons in isolated areas. On February 18, when some 2,000 protesters gathered at a protest in Oxford, some carried signs claiming that 15-minute cities would become “ghettos” created by the World Economic Forum as a form of “tyrannical control.”
In fact, LTNs are championed by Oxfordshire County Council; Oxford City Council has cited the city of 15 minutes as an inspiration for his vision of the city in 2040. As both government bodies pointed out in an attempt to debunk rumors, neither proposal involves physical barriers. One concept is concerned with limiting cars, while the other focuses on bringing daily necessities closer to residents.
Still, Jordan Peterson, a Canadian psychologist with four million Twitter followers, suggested that 15-minute cities were “maybe the worst perversion imaginable” of the idea of walkable neighborhoods. He linked to a post about the “Great Reset,” an economic recovery plan proposed by the World Economic Forum that has spawned hordes of rumors about a pandemic-fueled plot to destroy capitalism.
TO british member of parliament He said that 15-minute cities were “an international socialist concept” that “would cost us our personal liberties.” QAnon supporters said the derailment of a train carrying dangerous chemicals in Ohio was an intentional move intended to push rural residents into 15-minute cities.
“The conspiracy mongers have built a whole story: climate denial, Covid-19, anti-vaccination, 5G controlling citizens’ brains, and the 15-minute city to introduce a perimeter for everyday life,” Moreno said. saying. “This narrative is totally crazy, totally irrational to us, but it makes sense to them.”
The multifaceted conspiracy theory quickly “fed” after the Oxford protest, said Jennie King, head of climate research and policy at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a think tank that studies online platforms.
“You have this snowball effect of a policy, which in principle was only going to affect a small urban population, extrapolating and becoming this melting pot where far-right groups, industry-sponsored lobbies, conspiracy movements, anti-blockade groups and more. they saw an opportunity to insert their world view into the mainstream and take advantage of the news cycle,” he said.
