Anthropolis and the 15-Minute City: Shared Vision and Synergy

Shared Foundations: Human-Scaled, Ecological, and Post-Corporate

Both Anthropolis and the 15-Minute City share a core philosophy: the city or village should serve human and ecological needs, not corporate or industrial expansion. They prioritize walkability, local autonomy, and community life—placing the person and the planet at the center of design, instead of profit-driven infrastructure. Where the 15-Minute City seeks to reduce dependence on cars by ensuring that all daily needs are within a short walk or bike ride, Anthropolis expands this into a philosophical and structural transformation: villages or micro-poleis become self-sufficient ecosystems that operate on principles of biomimicry, circular design, and anthropological balance.

Key Similarities

Human-Centered Design

• 15-Minute City: Proposes compact, mixed-use neighborhoods where people can live, work, learn, and socialize within 15 minutes of home.

• Anthropolis: Designs each village as a living organism where architecture, food, education, and culture interconnect within walking distance—aligned with natural rhythms and human scale.

Decentralization and Local Autonomy

• 15-Minute City: Decentralizes urban planning, creating many self-contained nodes instead of one sprawling hub.

• Anthropolis: Envisions interconnected autonomous villages, each a self-reliant cell within a larger bioregional network—mirroring natural ecosystems.

Ecological and Social Sustainability

• Both reject the fossil-fuel-based urban sprawl that prioritizes vehicles over people.

• Both emphasize local food systems, renewable energy, and circular economies that recycle waste as a resource.

Reclaiming Public Space

• 15-Minute City: Turns streets into plazas, gardens, and pedestrian areas.

• Anthropolis: Transforms infrastructure into community commons—where production, education, and art flourish instead of advertising and consumption.

Integration: Rewilding the Urban Fabric

Combining Anthropolis with the 15-Minute City creates a pathway to transition existing cities into self-sustaining village networks without demolishing everything. This integration focuses on adaptive reuse—transforming what already exists into community infrastructure:

Repurposing Existing Buildings

• Empty office spaces become co-housing or cooperative workshops.

• Malls and big-box stores convert into indoor community gardens, education centers, or fabrication labs (using 3D printing for local production).

• Parking lots and highways evolve into green corridors for food forests and pedestrian networks.

Infrastructure as Commons

• Public utilities, transportation networks, and digital platforms can shift from private corporate control to community-owned cooperatives.

• Energy microgrids, water recycling, and local digital networks allow neighborhoods to function independently yet remain interconnected.

Cultural and Economic Transformation

• Transition from “jobs” defined by corporate profit to roles defined by communal need—teachers, growers, designers, healers, and builders.

• Replace consumerism with participatory culture: education, art, and care become the foundation of civic life.

Biomimicry and Ecology in Urban Renewal

• Neighborhoods modeled after ecosystems—waste becomes input, materials circulate locally, and architecture breathes with natural systems.

• Urban rewilding reconnects people to nature and local biodiversity.

Ending Corporate Control Through Local Regeneration

The hybrid of Anthropolis and the 15-Minute City dissolves corporate dependency by reclaiming essential functions—food, energy, education, and care—into community hands.

Corporate control thrives on scale and abstraction: global supply chains, centralized ownership, and advertising-driven consumption.

By relocalizing production and governance, communities regain agency, creativity, and ecological literacy.

• Instead of consuming products, citizens become co-creators.

• Instead of branding, there is belonging.

• Instead of profit extraction, there is circular reciprocity between humans and their habitat.