Sunnyside
Active Member
I was never able to find his email when I went looking after having a prior question. Could you provide/pm?
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- Thread starter innsertnamehere
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Undead
Senior Member
Sunnyside
Active Member
Thanks!
tiffer24
Senior Member
Hundreds of people poured into a special public meeting in Essex County earlier this month where many believed officials would be discussing 15-minute cities — even though County of Essex officials stressed that wasn't the case. The meeting was cut short because of the size of the crowd — and left officials surprised by the response.
Not only is the 15-minute-city concept not a part of County of Essex's plans — the concerns being raised by some residents are in line with what some experts describe as conspiracy theory thinking rather than rooted in what the concept is actually about.
Celestini explained that the conspiracy theory behind 15-minute cities is that it's a form of government take-over.
People are fearful of a scenario where people would have digital identifications on them and would be forced to stay within a 15-minute radius around their homes, and that if people traveled beyond those boundaries, they would be tracked and targeted in different ways.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/wind...spiracy-theory-essex-county-council-1.6808005
Not only is the 15-minute-city concept not a part of County of Essex's plans — the concerns being raised by some residents are in line with what some experts describe as conspiracy theory thinking rather than rooted in what the concept is actually about.
Celestini explained that the conspiracy theory behind 15-minute cities is that it's a form of government take-over.
People are fearful of a scenario where people would have digital identifications on them and would be forced to stay within a 15-minute radius around their homes, and that if people traveled beyond those boundaries, they would be tracked and targeted in different ways.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/wind...spiracy-theory-essex-county-council-1.6808005
afransen
Senior Member
Untreated mental illness runs rampant.
Cambry Ardship
New Member
Has there been any academic work on how best to respond to these sorts of conspiracy theories? Have municipal organizations and conferences started to discuss the same? Having 400 people at a meeting implies a level of communication and coordination that municipalities will need to respond to. I don't want to overstate "communication and coordination"--I assume that this was at most a few relatively obscure conspiracy Youtubers that brought this meeting up ahead of time, but it's going to be important to respond effectively to this and make sure that municipalities can improve their urbanism and plan out how to respond to climate change.
Undead
Senior Member
So this has already been explained. The progressive side of the aisle has lost its credibility on many issues. 15 minute cities get tarnished by association with progressive politics. Very basic stuff. If you want people to avoid throwing out the baby with the bath water, clean house on your side of the aisle before pitching ideas to people who distrust your side (often for good reason).
Cambry Ardship
New Member
I don't think that follows at all. It's not a question of 15-minute cities getting "tarnished by association" with progressive politics. It's not a passive thing. It's about people choosing to construct and promote harmful and baseless conspiracy theories. It certainly links up to a lot of broader issues like alienation, lack of civic engagement, and online radicalization.
To place the responsibility on the progressive/left-ish side to "clean house" is wrong. It misses the point entirely which is that a small but not insignificant number of people are entirely losing touch with reality.
To place the responsibility on the progressive/left-ish side to "clean house" is wrong. It misses the point entirely which is that a small but not insignificant number of people are entirely losing touch with reality.
Undead
Senior Member
Happening on both sides. This instance is stupid, like all of them, but the context is key to understanding what's occurring and resolving the situation.
The main issue is that governments of all levels and stripes have given people very good reason to distrust them. And this is a major contributing factor to various conspiracy theories on the left and right.
W. K. Lis
Superstar
People forget that most condos are "gated communities", with their own rules and regulations on how people can enter or leave or use the condo property..
Cambry Ardship
New Member
What's the equivalent conspiracy theory on the left? This is asymmetric polarization.
Failures in Canadian municipal governance are real, but they're not mentioning anything actually happening in Essex. These people have wild misconceptions of governance that reference the World Economic Forum, the United Nations, and various economic and political conferences. They're also referencing (deliberately misconstrued) plans by local government in other countries.
The movement to rethink how cities are built and work is an attempt to provide good governance. Of course government proposals and policies should be scrutinized and challenged. This, however, is entirely baseless. The reactionary challenge against 15-minute cities and related concepts, if successful, is going to result in more urban sprawl, increasing car dependency, worsening municipal financial positions, and degraded services.
Failures in Canadian municipal governance are real, but they're not mentioning anything actually happening in Essex. These people have wild misconceptions of governance that reference the World Economic Forum, the United Nations, and various economic and political conferences. They're also referencing (deliberately misconstrued) plans by local government in other countries.
The movement to rethink how cities are built and work is an attempt to provide good governance. Of course government proposals and policies should be scrutinized and challenged. This, however, is entirely baseless. The reactionary challenge against 15-minute cities and related concepts, if successful, is going to result in more urban sprawl, increasing car dependency, worsening municipal financial positions, and degraded services.
Undead
Senior Member
Completely incorrect if you're referring to the broader context. And you can't understand this specific case if you don't consider that context. I'm not justifying what the reaction is saying. I'm only explaining where it comes from.
Many on the left don't understand this context and that's why they're mystified when opposition appears. And because the opposition has been ignored and even vilified for so long, it's a lot uglier when it emerges.
It's the same reason progressives have gotten so nasty: genuinely concerning issues of economic inequality, for instance, have been ignored by the other side.
When people feel ignored, they brood in silence and their ideas take a dark turn; then they explode. If you want to talk about civic engagement, that's where you start: build trust, help people feel heard and defuse tensions long before they get ugly.
This goes equally for both sides of the aisle; these issues are almost always co-created.
Cambry Ardship
New Member
I'd be genuinely curious if you could explain a little bit about the broader context that you reference. Are you referring to public health rules to limit the pandemic?
lenaitch
Senior Member
So does my house. I have to know you, like you, and you can't come in through a window.
I hope you didn't pull anything trying to make that stretch.
turini2
Active Member
I work as an urban planner in London, UK - the draft Local Plan for the bit of the city that I work for has "15 minute neighbourhoods" as a key principle of the Plan. Improving access to jobs, public transit, community facilities, schools and parks. And yet, what did we hear at public meetings? sigh
(if you're curious, the Transport and Climate Emergency policies are the ones I wrote)