Operationalising the 20-minute neighbourhood

Area of Science:

• Urban Planning
• Geographic Information Systems
• Public Health

Background:

• Growing urban populations necessitate liveable neighbourhoods and compact city planning.
• The 20-minute neighbourhood (20MN) concept, where daily needs are met within a short, non-motorised trip, is gaining traction.
• Melbourne's planning strategy incorporates 20MNs, but a practical definition was lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and operationalize a practical definition for the 20-minute neighbourhood (20MN).
• To apply this definition to assess 20MN presence in Melbourne and Adelaide, Australia.

Main Methods:

• Utilized metropolitan boundary data for Melbourne and Adelaide.
• Sourced data across five domains: healthy food, recreational resources, community resources, public open space, and public transport.
• Defined 20MNs based on specific network path distances and area requirements for each domain.

Main Results:

• 5.5% of Melbourne's population and 7.6% of Adelaide's population reside within a 20MN.
• Melbourne's 20MNs exhibited higher population (6429/km²) and dwelling (3211/km²) densities compared to Adelaide (3062/km² and 1440/km² respectively).

Conclusions:

• A practical, operationalized definition of the 20MN was successfully developed and applied.
• This methodology can be adapted to assess and monitor 20MN implementation in other urban contexts.