The 15-minute city: how the next generation of creatives are choosing to work
Sander Volten, Global CEO of 180 Amsterdam, explores the new world of work and what smaller cities can offer the next generation of creative talent.
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New York, LA, London, Tokyo; all cities that were once epicentres for attracting the hottest young creative talent. All cities now finding themselves facing a damaging combination of empty offices and an unmotivated workforce.
As ‘The Great Resignation’ continues to take place in cities around the world, the fight for the next generation of talent is on.
Why? Because the coronavirus crisis has put quality of life front and centre, accelerating already emerging workplace trends.
Covid provided the catalyst for broader societal change, to break working habits that arguably made little sense; from long commutes, to suits in boardrooms, as well as the damage caused by presenteeism. As ‘The Great Resignation’ continues to take place in cities around the world, the fight for the next generation of talent is on.
Above: Amsterdam lends itself to the new world of work.
Then there are cities like Amsterdam, Lisbon or Boulder in Colorado, whose urban landscapes lend themselves to this new world of work. These cities offer a greater opportunity to provide flexible working, a tighter working culture and closer community feel, as well as a better, healthier lifestyle and a chance to combat the rising loneliness we are seeing emerge across many larger cities.
What makes these cities stand above the rest, particularly when it comes to the search for and retention of brilliant talent?
So, what makes these cities stand above the rest, particularly when it comes to the search for and retention of brilliant talent?
A 15-minute city
First up is accessibility. Getting around these cities, whether it’s from home to work, from work to a client’s office or something else, is easier than in many other capital cities.
Indeed, many are what has been coined to be a '15-minute city'; a city, or at least sequence of neighbourhoods, where most daily necessities can be carried out within cycling or walking distance from home. It’s a concept that focuses on putting people at the centre of urban regeneration by localising the focus, ensuring that they are able to go about their daily lives on foot or by bike.
Alongside others, Amsterdam’s natural benefit, and one that has become even more noticeable as we slowly emerge from two years in and out of lockdowns, is that it has this level of urban planning already baked into its infrastructure.
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Above: The sprawl of places like London can make it difficult and time-consuming to get around.
An undercurrent of creativity
As is so in many cities, but felt acutely in Amsterdam when combined with its accessibility, creativity isn’t restricted to the creative industries but rather runs like an undercurrent throughout the city, infiltrating every business. This undercurrent carries repercussions for the types of businesses being built, whatever the sector they operate in, whether gaming, tech, fashion or luxury.
These 15-minute cities have greater opportunity to provide flexible working, a tighter working culture and a better, healthier lifestyle.
These 15-minute cities, where this length of commute is either inherent to the city’s infrastructure or slowly being developed, have greater opportunity to provide flexible working, a tighter working culture and a better, healthier lifestyle. When it comes to city living, it’s creativity that is helping to reimagine their futures, to define a new urban trajectory. Because, looking at the ongoing climate crisis and navigating what the future looks like, cities are part of the problem, but they can also provide the solution.
The IPCC’s 2022 Report, released in April, spoke about the impact cities can have on helping to mitigate the effects of climate change, both from a human and environmental perspective. It wrote; “Urban areas that develop and implement effective 15/20-minute city programmes are very likely to reduce urban energy use and multiply emission reductions, representing an important cascading effect.”
All this, and more, make cities like Amsterdam more attractive to the next generation when it comes to balancing work and life, as well as those who are looking for change, at whatever stage of their career they find themselves. The notion of a village within a city has never felt more prescient than today.
