Launched by the US architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), the idea of the 20-minute suburb replaces the car-centric sprawl of the past with neighbourhoods where walking, soft mobility, and/or public transportation are all that are needed to access any public service or business.

Building on the idea of the 15-minute city, SOM recognises that 15 minutes is not enough time to walk or bike to retail and public facilities in the suburbs.

So, the agency studied the entire San Francisco Bay Area to identify zones where a 20-minute suburb strategy could be implemented.

This concept represents a real challenge to the essence of suburbia as Americans have known it for decades. It would require a rethinking of the very idea of single-family zoning, which involves multiplying the number of homes reserved for a single family.

In the US, this translates into large expanses of individual houses, sometimes detached, and most of the time with a lawn or garden.

This vision, synonymous with the ‘American way of life,’ could today be deconstructed, in order to address population growth and the increase in migration from the cities to the suburbs.

In fact, other forms of housing could emerge.

For several years, the state of California has been aware of this issue and has already adopted a zoning reform. The idea is, for example, to build new housing on already inhabited land or to transform old shopping complexes into housing.

SOM’s 20-minute suburb idea champions other changes, starting with transportation reform. This could take the form of creating or rerouting bus lines, for example, to facilitate access to a neighbourhood’s main commercial sites.

As for streets, they should be redesigned, sometimes as bike paths, sometimes as pedestrian walkways, in order to foster the vitality and vibrancy of the neighbourhood, while promoting the opening of new businesses.

In this regard, SOM advocates the opening of childcare facilities and community centres, rather than new restaurants, for example.