15 Minute Cities – Utopian Villages, or Dystopic Hells?

There’s much ado of late on ‘15 minute cities‘, (FMCs – like everything else now, they have their own acronym) a proposed redesigning of our metropolises, so that the basic amenities – groceries, shops, cafes, libraries, schools, parks, even, might we add, churches – will all be within walking, or biking, distance. Gone will be the city designed around the dreaded automobile, with long, clogged roadways, filling the air with exhaust and noise pollution – beware the pedestrian who ventures thereupon!

The car-less village within a city sounds rather pleasant, with leafy walkways, birds chirping, families picnicking – a veritable incarnation of It’s a Wonderful World. Historian Jane Jacobs‘ in her own writing on this topic over many years, has insisted that that we must return to something more accessible, local, amenable, human, beautiful – all in all, mediaeval. Some see the 15, 20, 25 minute city as a step towards such, a good thing which we should support. As an avid walker and biker, I’m hopeful for the good side of this, and that un-addicting us from the ubiquitous mechanized transport not in itself a bad thing.

Yet, and yet…Does anyone really still trust the powers-that-be, those with enough heft on the levers of power to reconfigure entire cities, to have our best interests at heart? One need not look far to see a sinister side to all of this, part and parcel of the Teutonic Schwaub’s ‘great reset’, to rid us not only of cars, but of much else, including any other sort of property and liberty. So long to the family farm, or even the family half-acre, or lawn, and welcome to your pod-condo, where you will be limited to one child, if that.

And speaking of façades, how long will those idyllic villages look idyllic? A glance at the feral nature of our drug-addled, dystopic downtowns – San Francisco and Portland being but two on the forefront of this degradation – should dispel such fairy-tale notions. What’s to stop a panoptic surveillance state, with all the control of a twisted Truman Show? Only, they won’t need the roadblocks, for no one will have cars…

Behind the pleasant façade, might this betoken – without their explicitly saying so – a quasi-permanent-lock-down within those same cities?

Ponder a final difference between the mediaeval village and the 15-minute city: One could walk out of the former and be in the open country well within an hour, if not less. Try hoofing it out of downtown L.A., New York or even Toronto – you’d still on concrete and asphalt two days later.

Keep what freedom you might, dear reader. ‘Tis a precious thing that, once lost, is not easy to regain. +

Carney’s Amoral Majority

After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→

Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress

This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→

A Closed, Unsustainable, Descending Loop

As a follow-up to my thoughts on Payette’s payout, here be a stark image of where are here in Canada. As the graph shows in, well, graphic terms, since 2025, the public sector has contributed to 95.5% of economic growth. The private sector – which funds the public sector, or is supposed to – has[…]Continue reading→

A Tale of Two Benedicts

A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→

My Name is Bernadette

April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→

Presidential Pardon of Weronika Krawczyk

As a good news, follow-up to our story from Poland, of the persecution of Weronika Krawczyk for her pro-life views, we heard that she has been granted a presidential pardon. One might still wonder why one needs a presidential pardon for simply holding the long-held belief that the child within the womb is a child,[…]Continue reading→

Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully

Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→

The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus

As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→

Pope Leo and a Rosary for Peace

Pope Leo XIV has asked Catholics across the world to join him in a Rosary for peace today, at 18:00 Rome time (6 pm), which would be noon from where I write (EST). If you are able, whether at that time or another, and in whatever way you pray, to join in intercession with the[…]Continue reading→

Payette’s Payout

I was glancing through some headlines, and noticed a mention of Julie Payette – engineer and astronaut and sometime the Queen’s representative in Canada – which brought back vague memories. She was appointed Governor-General by Justin Trudeau in 2017. Ms. Payette resigned in 2021, amidst claims that she created a ‘toxic work environment’, with allegations[…]Continue reading→