ISOBENEFIT URBANISM

the meta one-mile green city

Since 2013, Isobenefit Urbanism was proposed as a city model

in which each dweller can do her/his usual main daily activities by walking or at maximum biking” “to reach places of work, shops, amenities (recreational, medical, cultural. . .), and centralities from our habitations (2013)

The time to reach the ordinary daily points (work, buying food, recreational time, education, a green area […]) should not be higher than a reasonable time (T*) which is around 30 minutes walking/10-15 minutes biking” (2014-15) or "15 min walking (namely within around 1 km)" (2018)

 


 
It is called a "one-mile green city", or "Isobenefit Urbanism". The term "isobenefit" is a portmanteau word from "iso" meaning equal, and "benefit" referring to the beneficial walkable proximity to amenities, services, workplaces, centralities and green space.

This urban model is recently receiving a growing attention. 

A chronological path toward the x-minute city 

table source: D'Acci L.S., Banister D., White R.W. (2024). Liveable urban forms: planning, self-organisation, and a third way (isobenefit urbanism). Nature - Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11, 578.

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in 10 points: what does Isobenefit Urbanism (IU) add or how/what it differs/emphasizes?

  • 1) Uniform dislocation of centralities: proximity to centralities (aiming at re-basing the self-organized spatial emergency or centralities, on the walking premises as in pre-industrial cities and towns);
  • 2) Hyper-connected archipelagos of walking units: having all the above centralities interconnected among themselves (ideally by sky trains and undergrounds to leave the land free);
  • 3) Uniform dislocation and proportion of Natural land: proximity to the green, intended not simply as urban parks but actual natural lands too (forests...);
  • 4) Urban form shaper: the consequential constant proportion and proximity between green and built area, no matters the scale, (village, town, city, megacity) determines the actual urban form and its evolution;
  • 5) Semi self-organized: such forms are semi-spontaneously generated, without planning strict impositions, as long as proximities to 1 and 3 are provided, it doesn't matter how;
  • 6) Limitless growth: the ease of increasing urban size by simply adding and linking walkable units:
  • 7) Algorithmic growth: it provides an easy algorithm which could be flexibly combined with the use of Artificial Intelligence and planners-local contingency aims;
  • 8) Borrowing size: because of points 1 and 2, all points are easily reachable from distant locations thanks to the interconnectedness of walking+skytrains, therefore reaching population-thresholds to make centralities economically viable, and creating a hyper-connected archipelago of walking units rather than enclaved walking-ghettos. IU doesn’t restrict into local community life, and it doesn’t spatially confine daily life, but extends it;
  • 9) Horizontal centralities network: synergy is not vertically achieved through a web-type network based on complementarily of the 1-mile unit’s centralities; but horizontally via club-type networks. Specifically, this is achieved via branches of same companies, universities, services spread across centralities rather than having a centrality just for universities, another just for banks, another just for medical services, and so on;
  • 10) Fluid morphogenesis: IU is not a cluster of small settlements orbiting a central city; is not fixing a determined density, size and typology.
media
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MIT
Technology Review

Isobenefit Lines Rewrite Rules for Understanding City Life.
A new way of mapping cities according to the benefit they give residents has the potential to change the way planners think about city design.
Today, Luca D’Acci at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland suggests an interesting new way... 

Oct 18, 2012
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la Republica 

Il movimento globale delle città da 15 minuti.
"Il professore [...] Luca D'Acci [...] aveva lanciato il progetto di una città differente nel 2013 chiamata "isobenefit urbanism" [...] dietro il quale c'era però la stessa intuizione [...]. Quando lo presentò ad un convegno gli diedero scherzosamente del comunista. Allora certe idee per trasformare i centri urbani, la cui struttura veniva giudicata inevitabile, venivano accolte con scetticismo."
Dec 3, 2022
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World Economic Forum

This is your guide to Isobenefit Urbanism — the thinking behind the cities of the future.
Isobenefit Urbanism rethinks the way we manage our cities, prioritising walkability and green space.

Mar 14, 2023.
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Polytechnic of Turin

Isobenefit Urbanism, a code to rethink urban environments and imagine the city of the future.
A new urban planning approach, thought by professor Luca S. D’Acci, rooted in the imagination of a future more liveable urban dimension...

Mar 24, 2023
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University College London

Bartlett Planning team help planners discover best locations for future urban growth.
The software is based on the Isobenefit Urbanism model of D’Acci, an optimization-based model creating morphological scenarios where all new dwellings have a location that achieves sustainable and desirable attributes of cities – including and beyond the idea of 15-minutes city.

May 30, 2023
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World Governments Summit

Isobenefit Urbanism: The Key to Future Cities.
The current paradigm of cities has emerged along the reign of modernity. As efficient as it may be, it does not align with the vision of sustainability and resilience, and that is how Isobenefit Urbanism comes into play. This session will expand on Isobenefit Urbanism as a groundbreaking urban planning concept centered around the principle of ensuring equitable access to resources and opportunities across various areas within a city.

Feb 13, 2024
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The Record

Cycling, conspiracies and connectivity: the global push for 15-minute cities.
A 15-minute city isn’t new. [...] In 2013 Luca D’Acci from the Polytechnic University of Turin introduced his concept of Isobenefit Urbanism. It would take another decade before people really started taking notice.
“I chose a terrible name and I chose terrible language because it was too technical and too mathematical,” he said from his home just outside Oxford University in England [...]
It comes down to 10 main basic principles, with hyper-connected walking trails as well as sky trains and subways to keep the land free, constant proportions between green land and built areas, limitless growth by linking new walkable units, and a clear algorithm that allows planners to foster intentional development.

May 3, 2024
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academic
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University of Oxford

Oxford Talks:
Urban morphology and climate change: Isobenefit Urbanism evolutions for future human habitats

Oct 7, 2015
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Trinity College Dublin

Research seminar at the Future Cities Research Centre: Isobenefit Cities for Future Habitats 

Jun 12, 2015
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The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Future cities? A morphogenetic code idea:
Isobenefit Urbanism
.

Apr 9, 2020
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University of Cambridge

The Martin Centre Research Seminar Series: Isobenefit Urbanism.

May 10, 2023
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Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam

Webinar Series: Isobenefit Urbanism.

Jul 19, 2023
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Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam

Is Isobenefit Urbanism the way to green, liveable cities?

Sep 11, 2023
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Rizvi College

Isobenefit Urbanism Digital Platform

Feb 24, 2024
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Brooks Oxford Unversity

Isobenefit Urbanism 


9 April, 2024

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University of Oxford

Oxford Talks:
Isobenefit Urbanism toward liveable urban forms

Apr 17, 2024
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University of Southampton

Urban design symposium.

Toward liveable urban forms: Isobenefit Urbanism

Apr 24, 2024

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ETH Zurich

Colloquium:
Isobenefit Urbanism

Nov 20, 2024
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videos

video screened at the Biennale di Venezia 2021: 30 June, and 31 July 

University of Cambridge: Martin Centre Seminars, 10 May 2023

Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam: Webinar Series, 19 July 2023

Academic publications

  • 2011: D'Acci L. (accepted 2013). Simulating Future Societies in Isobenefit Cities. Futures, 54:3–18.
  • 2014: D'Acci L. Urban DNA for cities evolutions. arXiv:1408.2874
  • 2018: D'Acci L. New type of cities for liveable futures. Isobenefit Urbanism morphogenesis. Journal of Environmental Management, 246:128-140
  • 2021: D'Acci L.S., Marshall S., van Oort F., Rogers C.D.F., Gabrieli T., Voto M. (2021). Planning, environmental, economic perspectives of urban isobenefit morphogenesis. Ecocity world summit 2021.
  • D'Acci L.S., Voto M. A cellular automata for e-planning sustainable urban forms. SIMAI 2021.
  • 2023: Heeseo Rain Kwon, Tommaso Gabrieli, Luca S. D'Acci and Stephen Marshall (2023). A morphological cellular automata-agent based model prototype for simulating future isobenefit urbanism growth. UK-Ireland Planning Research Conference 2023, University of Galsgow.
  • D'Acci L.S., Voto M. (2023). Morphogenesis of Isobenefit Urbanism: isobenefit-cities simulator. SoftwareX, 23: 101408
  • 2024: Marshall S., Gabrieli T., Simons G., Marin V. D'Acci L. (2024) A planning support tool for simulating future urban growth and accessibility via cellular automata and QGIS. World Symposium on Transport and Land Use Research. (accepted).
  • D'Acci L.S., Banister D., White R.W. Liveable urban forms: planning, self-organisation, and a third way (isobenefit urbanism). Nature - Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 11, 578.

PPT

ISOBENEFIT URBANISM DIGITAL TWIN

a short presentation for the APIC 2024 International Conference 'Reflections of the Future' - Panel: artificial intelligence and digital innovation

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