Apparently there’s a conspiracy theory that 15-minute cities are urban prisons where residents must wear QR codes that track their restricted movements. As opposed to the reality: mixed-use neighbourhoods so handy that signposts can use walking minutes as the unit of distance to the library, theatres, cafés, community services, museums, parks and shops.
Another sign that a 15-minute city is a lively mixed-use place: a hardware store opened on a main city square in the shadow of the cathedral.
It's the kind of flagship space where you’d usually find a designer bag store. It rents drills, sack trolleys and tools by the hour. That can only make commercial sense when a city centre is not just for businesses and the rich, but for ordinary people living just around the corner in ordinary homes.
A visitor from abroad was surprised to discover that you can borrow an electric cargo bike at the hardware store if you need to carry bulky stuff home.
The first two hours are free. After that, you pay 99 kr. (about €13) per hour. Another nice sign, I think, of the advantages of walkable, bikable cities.
@CiaraNi What do people who can't ride bikes typically do there?
@biplanepilot @CiaraNi Note that these are electric tricycles. You do not need to balance them, and they do not require much physical strength.
That still excludes some people, but it covers a very large group.
@CiaraNi @Zamfr That’s really cool, from the picture I couldn't see that they were tricycles. That would certainly make them more accessible to me with my balance issues, although you're not wrong that some people would still be excluded. Would a wheelchair user typically rent a delivery truck for this sort of scenario? Is that an option there?
@biplanepilot @CiaraNi
I suppose, or order from a webshop, or drive a car if they can? Same as in other places I guess.
To be clear, I don't live in Arhus, and shops where I live do not rent out cargo bikes. People often have their own cargobike. People with walking difficulties or wheelchairs use the same infrastructure as cyclists, but it's not the same.
For example, wheel chair users often have an electric third wheel they can add to the chair, but it still won't have much cargo space
@biplanepilot @CiaraNi
My understanding is that electric, three-wheeled cargo bikes (like on the photo) are helpful to some people with balancing problems. The alternatives are more conspicuous, medical-looking machines.