9. Why 15-minute cities? Democracy and climate crisis denialism

The idea that neighborhoods should be walkable is lovely. The idea that idiot tyrannical bureaucrats can decide by fiat where you’re “allowed” to drive is perhaps the worst imaginable perversion of that idea–and, make no mistake, it’s part of a well-documented plan.

Jordan Peterson, X/Twitter (Grabar, 2023).

 

Conspiracy-mongers have built a complete story: climate denialism, Covid-19, anti-vax, 5G controlling the brains of citizens, and the 15-minute city for introducing a perimeter for day-to-day life. This storytelling is totally insane, totally irrational for us, but it makes sense for them.

Carlos Moreno, New York Times (Hsu, 2023).

Abstract

This chapter interrogates the contentious intersection of climate crisis denialism, urban planning, conspiracy theories, and democratic governance through the lens of the 15‐minute city concept. At its core, the text examines how proposals for localized, walkable communities spark fierce debates about freedom, control, and environmental sustainability. Some argue that 15‐minute cities can foster vibrant, community‐centered living spaces, while others contend that such models are thinly veiled instruments of governmental overreach and globalist agendas. The chapter explores the challenges of a post-factual era where disinformation undermines public confidence and participatory democracy, and it delves into the propagation of conspiracy theories. A key analytical framework employed is the concept of Pygmalion democracy, which posits that citizens’ idealized expectations of democratic processes inadvertently shape political realities, often masking deficiencies in genuine engagement and representation. The narrative critiques how entrenched myths, manipulated narratives, and strategic misinformation fuel societal divisions and impede constructive dialogue on urban transformation. By juxtaposing progressive visions of sustainable urbanism with reactionary counter-movements, the chapter offers a critical reflection on the evolving nature of democracy in modern cities. In doing so, it invites readers to reconsider how participatory ideals might be reclaimed and reimagined, ensuring that democratic evolution is grounded in transparency, inclusivity, and resilient civic engagement.

Keywords: disinformation, conspiracy, critical thinking, surveillance capitalism, media ecology, 15-minute cities, climate crisis denialism, democratic governance.

Résumé

Ce chapitre interroge l’intersection controversée du déni de la crise climatique, de l’urbanisme, des théories du complot et de la gouvernance démocratique à travers le concept de la ville de 15 minutes. Au fond, le texte examine comment les propositions de communautés localisées et accessibles à pied suscitent de vifs débats sur la liberté, le contrôle et la durabilité environnementale. Certains affirment que les villes de 15 minutes peuvent favoriser des espaces de vie dynamiques et centrés sur la communauté, tandis que d’autres soutiennent que ces modèles sont des instruments à peine voilés d’ingérence gouvernementale et d’agendas mondialistes. Le chapitre explore les défis d’une ère post-factuelle où la désinformation sape la confiance du public et la démocratie participative, et se penche sur la propagation des théories du complot. L’un des principaux cadres analytiques utilisés est le concept de démocratie Pygmalion, qui postule que les attentes idéalisées des citoyen·ne·s à l’égard des processus démocratiques façonnent par inadvertance les réalités politiques, masquant souvent des lacunes en matière d’engagement et de représentation authentiques. Le récit critique la façon dont les mythes bien ancrés, les récits manipulés et la désinformation stratégique alimentent les divisions sociétales et empêchent un dialogue constructif sur la transformation urbaine. En juxtaposant les visions progressistes de l’urbanisme durable et les contre-mouvements réactionnaires, le chapitre propose une réflexion critique sur l’évolution de la nature de la démocratie dans les villes modernes. Ce faisant, il invite les lect·eur·rice·s à reconsidérer la manière dont les idéaux participatifs peuvent être récupérés et repensés, en veillant à ce que l’évolution démocratique soit fondée sur la transparence, l’inclusivité et l’engagement civique résilient.

Mots-clés : désinformation, conspiration, esprit critique, capitalisme de surveillance, écologie des médias, villes de 15 minutes, négationnisme de la crise climatique, gouvernance démocratique.

Resumen

Este capítulo interroga la conflictiva intersección del negacionismo de la crisis climática, la planificación urbana, las teorías de conspiración y la gobernanza democrática a través del concepto de la ciudad de 15 minutos. En su núcleo, el texto examina cómo las propuestas de comunidades localizadas y caminables desatan intensos debates sobre la libertad, el control y la sostenibilidad ambiental. Algunos argumentan que las ciudades de 15 minutos pueden fomentar espacios de vida vibrantes y centrados en la comunidad, mientras que otros sostienen que tales modelos son instrumentos velados de la injerencia gubernamental y las agendas globalistas. El capítulo explora los desafíos de una era postfactual en la que la desinformación socava la confianza pública y la democracia participativa, y profundiza en la propagación de teorías de conspiración. Un marco analítico clave empleado es el concepto de democracia pigmaliónica, que postula que las expectativas idealizadas de los ciudadanos sobre los procesos democráticos moldean inadvertidamente las realidades políticas, a menudo enmascarando deficiencias en el compromiso y la representación genuinos. La narrativa critica cómo los mitos arraigados, las narrativas manipuladas y la desinformación estratégica alimentan las divisiones sociales e impiden el diálogo constructivo sobre la transformación urbana. Al yuxtaponer visiones progresistas de un urbanismo sostenible con movimientos reaccionarios en contra, el capítulo ofrece una reflexión crítica sobre la naturaleza evolutiva de la democracia en las ciudades modernas. Al hacerlo, invita a los lectores a reconsiderar cómo los ideales participativos podrían ser recuperados y reimaginados, asegurando que la evolución democrática esté basada en la transparencia, la inclusividad y el compromiso cívico resiliente.

Palabras clave: desinformación, conspiración, pensamiento crítico, capitalismo de vigilancia, ecología de los medios, ciudades de 15 minutos, negacionismo de la crisis climática, gobernanza democrática.

Introduction

The 15-minute city urban planning movement, which advocates for livable, local communities with high walk scores and lessened traffic congestion, has become hotly contested by actors advancing a conspiracy theory mobilized on social media that suggests this global experiment is part of a plot by governments and corporations to limit freedom of movement and to create “open air prisons.” Based on models of urban development that typically predate the automobile, the “15-minute city” is a walkable, sustainable, and livable city where residents can access essential services—like work, school, healthcare, shopping, and recreation—within a short radius of their homes.

Coined by Carlos Moreno, a Paris-based university professor, the 15-minute city overlaps with other urban planning concepts, such as low-traffic neighborhoods and the community-focused urban planning of the late Jane Jacobs and others (Hsu, 2023). While proponents see it as a progressive solution that reduces pollution and improves the quality of life, conspiracy theories have emerged that frame the 15-minute city model as a ruse to restrict personal freedom, enforce government control, and impose social engineering measures on urban populations. These critiques can also go the extra mile, positing the 15-minute city as part of a plot to implement “Agenda 2030″— the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals deadline being a ruse for a technocratic, controlled society, and part of the Great Reset, a larger, globalist agenda apparently orchestrated by Klaus Schwab and the World Economic Forum to impose a social model that eliminates individuality and autonomy (Klein, 2023). Proponents of the Great Reset conspiracy theory often compare the 15-minute city to the COVID-19 lockdowns (Vlahov & Kurth, 2024), arguing that these measures are simply a prelude to a more permanent state of surveillance and social control, wherein “freedom of movement” becomes conditional on adherence to government mandates.

One of the sustaining myths of our times is that we have entered a period of epistemic slippage, a post-truth period where all that was once solid has melted into air, leaving us increasingly vulnerable to lies, distortions, hoaxes, and full-blown conspiracies. Increasingly, we are misinformed and disinformed by either unwitting or conniving third parties (accidental misinformation versus deliberate disinformation). These externalities to public discourse are provoking direct side effects and fall outs, the former in the realm of doubt, skepticism and distrust, and the latter in the risks and declines in democratic governance and the common good, understood as the sustainable and flourishing ecological, political, economic, social and cultural conditions of life.

In this chapter, we examine the crisis of knowledge and truth in contemporary societies, the conspiracies that have emerged around the 15-minute city, and the contemporary city as a locus of struggle over possible reactions to the climate emergency. Some of the questions that are taken up here relate directly to the theme of Pygmalion democracy. First, are people so beholden to an idealized conception of the current democratic and socio-political system that would make any evolution unimaginable? Second, does the lack of ongoing democratic participation of populations – who essentially rely on the image of representative democracy – make individuals and groups unable or unwilling to understand the issues at stake in current socio-political systems and the proposed alternatives? Third, is it difficult for citizens to imagine any structural adjustments to our current societies – such as the 15-minute city – advanced by globalist intra-governmental bodies as anything other than a threat or a conspiracy? And fourth, has the proliferation of disinformation and the destabilization of truth eroded the collective capacity to reflect upon and envision social and democratic ideals?

Cities as locus of democratic struggle

Like the nation-states they are part of, cities in late capitalism are heavily contested sites of struggle between the status quo and alternative world views (Stein, 2019). In Canada, cities tend towards a center-left political axis on the regional or federal levels of government, but municipally they often swing on a political pendulum between right and left. Three dynamics are important to place into view. First, cities have long been the spaces where late capitalism stores and manages its financial assets. Most spectacularly in the early 21st century, the financialization of real estate into an asset class has distorted the housing market, both for rental and ownership (Stein, 2019). Cities also continue their role as the headquarters for banking and resource extraction industries (Sassen, 2001). Second, cities are home to many of Canada’s most vulnerable citizens: the urban poor; new Canadians, including some undocumented residents; and marginal communities beset with mental health afflictions and/or addictions. Third, even before the existential threat of the climate crisis, cities had become laboratories of alternative models of life, full of eager, early adopters through the years of cooperative housing (shared or public ownership), recycling, bike lanes, 100-mile diets, circular economies, and other models of sustainable growth (Goldberg, 2014).

Despite the cohabitation of social groups in close proximity in contemporary cities, class distinctions continue to play a direct role in facilitating the “good life” of the asset class and the often-well-heeled progressive early adopters of cooperative living. For instance, the city of Toronto, Canada, is well-known for having an external ring of low-income communities that are unequally serviced by mass transit and community supports, such as community centers, parkland and even supermarkets (Hulchanski, 2010). Thus, when conspiracy theorists argue that wealthier residents or elites of 15-minute cities will have access to more desirable areas under the guise of environmental protection, while the rest of the population is funneled into lower-quality zones, they double down on pre-existing conditions. Rather than just limiting ease of movement financially, as is the case today, urban space would be carved out for the haves and have-nots using digital borders. This would thus structurally formalize a two-tiered society where the movement and lifestyle of ordinary citizens are tightly controlled.

One of the most common fears is that the 15-minute city could lead to the enforcement of digital IDs or surveillance systems that track citizens’ locations and activities. Critics suggest that in a fully implemented 15-minute city, residents may be required to scan QR codes or use government-issued apps to access services, thus creating a comprehensive monitoring system that invades personal privacy. From this viewpoint, the 15-minute city is perceived as a tool for mass surveillance and social control. Critics argue that by implementing strict zoning regulations and limiting movement to localized areas, governments or powerful elites could exert unprecedented control over citizens’ daily lives. In this narrative, the city’s design is seen not as a benevolent attempt to reduce carbon footprints, or to promote eco-friendly urban spaces but as a method of “locking people down” through physical barriers and restrictions. The idea that every necessity can be obtained within a 15-minute radius is interpreted not as a convenience but as a form of confinement, creating “zones” that may restrict residents’ ability to move freely across the city (Grainger, 2023).

Further fueling this skepticism is the idea that the 15-minute city could be part of a larger, globalist agenda to impose a one-size-fits-all social model that eliminates individuality and autonomy. Conspiracy theorists frequently connect the idea to broader fears about globalism, citing the influence of organizations like the World Economic Forum (WEF) or the United Nations (UN) which have supported sustainability and urban planning initiatives. These critics double down on the claim that the 15-minute city is part of a plot to implement “the Great Reset,” or “Agenda 2030″—UN and WEF initiatives perceived by some as a cover for creating a technocratic, controlled society where personal freedoms are curtailed for the sake of environmentalism and everyday life becomes a cosplay of the Hunger Games (Grainger, 2023).

Many of these conspiracies were amplified by and during the COVID-19 pandemic. However it is measured, there is no doubt that the public mood of the second half of the 2010s was cautious, skeptical, cynical, and angry even before the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic in March of 2020, which unleashed a fury of confusion and disinformation online, leading to the coining of the term “infodemic” by the World Health Organization (World Health Organization, n.d.). It was during the pandemic that some of the conspiracy theories that had been building momentum exploded into public consciousness as possible and plausible explanations for the mess we were in, including the idea that the “Plandemic” was just a ruse to showcase government and inter-government power. The ur-myth was that of the Great Reset planned by the World Economic Forum (Auken, 2016) and aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals of 2030, which would involve large-scale dispossession of assets, debt-servitude, and open-air prisons. According to these logics, any talk by governments about vaccine mandates, digital ID or digital currency was proof that the plan was being implemented. Meanwhile, the “Plandemic” was considered a massive experiment to measure the docility of world populations, or in common parlance, the “sheeple.”

Being opposed to vaccine mandates does not necessarily mean that one is beholden to conspiracy theories. Indeed, there is a decades-long tradition of healthy skepticism toward Western medicine in general, and vaccines in particular, and there was considerable concern that the mRNA vaccine developed to combat COVID-19 marked a departure from established practice. These nuances are beyond the scope of this paper, but it is important to indicate that while vaccine protest and adherence to the “Plandemic” conspiracy may often overlap, the former does not have to lead to the latter. Nonetheless, in the context of the public health crisis and the massively disruptive responses brought by governments to respond to the perceived threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is not a surprise that a narrative of pre-planned government overreach would form. Perhaps this corresponds to Antonio Gramsci’s admonition that common sense is not always the same as good sense, or perhaps, principles of Naomi Klein’s shock doctrine were mobilized–using a crisis to push through some ruptural changes to social, economic and/or political conditions. Klein articulates carefully in Doppelganger (2023) that she was horrified to see the Right taking up the shock doctrine premise, and that it became apparent during this time that the Left had ignored the implications of surveillance capitalism on everyday lives and the role of Big Pharma would play in monetizing the pandemic for massive profits.

Arguably, managing change is a central element of the political process and this involves a rhetorical or informational component of somehow controlling the narrative. COVID-19 posed existential challenges to populations worldwide, but also profound differences in economic or epidemiological impact. In short, some people lost jobs, businesses, income streams, while others did not. As well, some people were directly impacted by COVID-19’s devastating health impacts – whether personally or via family or friends – while others were not. For a while, populations rallied around one another, but over time trust and solidarity began to erode. Percolating in the background was a hyperactive Internet, which had become for most people the stage for social interaction and political participation. Hidden in plain sight was a profoundly altered Pygmalion mediascape, a participatory, seemingly familiar medium backed by a data-hungry, algorithm-driven, corporate-controlled infrastructure (Durand, 2024). At a time when the media spheres had ruptured into legacy versus social media, broadcast publics versus narrowcast echo chambers, and, increasingly, liberal versus right-wing media spheres, Silicon Valley oligarchs were more concerned with fine-tuning their powerful machines than with the fine points of democracy. Thus, as misinformation and disinformation flourished while gatekeeper media lost the economic model that paid for independent journalists and copy editors, conspiracy theories multiplied and flourished. Once the quicksand of skepticism and doubt took hold, charlatans and politicians – sometimes one and the same – took full advantage. The next section will describe some of the background and events that led to the present discursive conditions where discussion and dialogue are at the mercy of disinformation, manipulation and full-blown conspiracy theories.

Truth, “truthiness” and “wokeness”

Truth is itself a slippery concept. Disinformation is not unique to the 21st century, but rather propaganda or manipulation has long been central to public discourse, as seen over a long sweep of Western history, from the Sophists to Machiavelli, from Edward Bernays to Donald Trump. Skepticism or fact-checking also has a long legacy. For instance, the saying “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me” derives from a book published in 1651 by Anthony Weldon. Another old chestnut, sometimes misattributed to Mark Twain, is “never let the truth get in the way of a good story.” The 20th century saw the rise of the modern mass media and new frontiers for disinformation and propaganda. Many influential authors, including George Orwell, Antonio Gramsci, Hannah Arendt, and Noam Chomsky, elaborated theories that responded to tendencies in disinformation and offered some tangible modes of response. Despite the horrors faced in that century – specific conditions unique to those times – there is renewed cause for concern for the role of disinformation and the state of critical thinking and understanding today. And the timing could not be worse. Coinciding with this critical juncture of human history – when the impacts of the climate emergency become more and more apparent; global societies are in economic, social and political distress; and the atomic clock is set to 90 seconds before midnight – the production, circulation and reception of news and information have been thrown into confusion and chaos.

As we have seen in recent years, the public presumption of trustworthiness has declined dramatically, taking a nosedive in the wake of the first presidency of Donald Trump, who made roughly 5000 false claims in his first two years in office (Dale, 2019). It would be inaccurate to give all the credit for the destabilization of the truth to Trump alone. He may have played a pivotal role as an accelerant, but he is not the primary architect. The 2020s mark a century since the initial development and spread of public relations or knowledge management in the 1920s, most famously by Sigmund Freud’s nephew, Edward Bernays. Disinformation and propaganda have been used by powerful groups before and after that time, but the public relations era is simultaneous to the rise of modern advertising and the harnessing of emotional response into public discourse and messaging. An insightful Word of the Year chosen in 2005 by the American Dialect Society is “truthiness”, which was also selected in 2006 by Merriam Webster Dictionary (Rabin, 2006). Coined by comedian Stephen Colbert and rapidly adopted into common parlance by journalists and academics, the term captures the zeitgeist of the 21st century, harnessing together affect, individualism, confusion, entitlement and stubbornness. Here is how Colbert explained the concept:

It used to be, everyone was entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. But that’s not the case anymore. Facts matter not at all. Perception is everything… Truthiness is ‘What I say is right, and [nothing] anyone else says could possibly be true.’ It’s not only that I feel it to be true, but that I feel it to be true. There’s not only an emotional quality, but there’s a selfish quality (Rabin, 2006, online).

Truthiness speaks to, and plays directly into, the polarized political conditions of red and blue USA, a schism between Republicans and Democrats. It represents a disavowal of playing by the rules of public discourse, common sense or science, and of sticking to one’s own views regardless of what facts are in play. Of course, truthiness is not a monopoly of the USA, nor of this historic moment. But it appears to be normalized and more shamelessly used by contemporary politicians, most notoriously and prodigiously by Donald Trump.

As well as playing fast and loose with the facts, Trump also systematically calls down anyone who would challenge him, particularly journalists, as agents of fake news. By the time Trump left office for the first time in early 2021, the term “fake news” has been weaponized to mean that which does not align with the views of the speaker. In recognizing “fake news” as the Word of the Year in 2017, the American Dialect Society defined the term as including both “disinformation or falsehoods presented as real news” and “actual news that is claimed to be untrue” (Segarra, 2018). Word of the year selections can be very telling about the zeitgeist or preoccupations of an era. ‘Fake news’ was also selected as the Word of the Year by the Macquarie Dictionary (Australia) in 2016 and the Collins Dictionary (Scotland) in 2017. Another entry into the same ledger is the Oxford Dictionary (Britain) choice of ‘post-truth’ in 2016, which is a broader term for a post-consensus world.

The quality of information should be measured by some combination of truth, trust and transparency, but making sense of anything these days is a complicated matter. Given the apparent lack of the kinds of communication anchors of the 20th century that we entrusted to help us shape reality – such as editors of major newspapers, broadcasters, and book publishers – we increasingly seem to be lost at sea. This is not to suggest that there was a golden era of truth in the 20th century, but there was a greater likelihood of knowing what our neighbor was reading, watching or hearing and agreeing to disagree. In the information chaos of today, truth tellers and story sellers (Han, 2024) compete for space with red pills, meme warfare, mercenary trolls, and a formerly underground alt-right podcast ecosystem that has now emerged into the full light of day. Algorithmically governed social media spaces curate information and news to individuals and groups, resulting in echo chambers where people can be assured of confirmation bias, exposure to views they typically already share, and receptive audiences where they can share outrage and disdain. Says Zeynep Tufekci, a keen observer of the intersections of social media and social movements: “It’s not so much an echo chamber where groups don’t hear from one another as a football stadium where we bond by yelling at the fans from the other side” (2018). Naomi Klein usefully proposes the concept of a mirror world comprised of two parallel information universes (2023). The research she conducted for Doppelganger showed that something more orchestrated was occurring with the emergence of a well-funded alt-right media sphere and a strategy to retake the US White House and other seats of government around the world.

It is no small task to unpack the complex web of overlapping “conspiracy fictions” (Monbiot & Hutchison, 2024) that circulate on social media, on the tips of tongues of friends and neighbors, and increasingly also in legacy media and in legislative chambers worldwide. George Monbiot and Peter Hutchison distinguish between fictive conspiracies and real ones. They argue that there are indeed massive conspiracies associated with neoliberal capitalism that are impacting human lives in the North and the South, but that conspiracy fictions are stealing the spotlight. In corporate boardrooms and international trade dispute resolution tribunals–all typically shielded by non-disclosure agreements–decisions are undertaken that transform social, economic and political landscapes. Here, powerful actors demand, negotiate and/or acquiesce to changes that typically erode the social welfare state in the North and extend and deepen economic exploitation and dependencies in the South. Monbiot and Hutchinson document how neoliberalism itself, a largely hidden strategy of long-term social, economic and political transformation, is the meta-conspiracy. Arguably, neoliberalism’s near invisibility as a descriptor of the economic and political policies of the past 50 years is the mirror counterpart to the Great Reset in the sphere of conspiracy fictions.

According to many internet pundits and forums in the mirror world, recognizing the truth about the mess we were in, and the orchestrated plan to enforce a world-wide dystopia in the near future, simply requires “doing your own research.” Getting to that place of critical thinking, however, requires people to awaken or to take the red pill. This latter concept, drawn from The Matrix movies, returns to public discourse with a vengeance in the early 2020s and it is used interchangeably with “to awaken.” Those who are awake can see the world critically, registering an a-ha moment that resembles in some manner the Freirian concept of conscientization. To awaken means to recognize that the world is dominated by powerful people and groups who willfully manipulate less powerful people and groups. While corporations (especially Big Pharma), banks, governments and world economic councils are recognized as destructive forces, so are the “elites.” The mirror world version of the elites takes aim at intellectuals and scientists in general, and journalists and social justice activists in particular. Complicating matters further is the buzzword “woke”, which stands for more thorough definitions or explanations. In contemporary parlance, those who are “awake” see through those who are “woke.” Thus, to awaken is akin to having a Freirian socio-political ‘aha moment’ that is the typical response to conscientization but mixed with contempt for social movements, leftist cultural politics with a particular laser focus on, and antipathy towards gender identity fluidity.

This scrambled perspective has proved to be a recipe for success for leaders of the new liquid Right who use memes, reels and podcasts to quickly mobilize their messages. It is also leading to populist and anti-democratic political movements and formations. In Canada, “woke” came into vogue after the pandemic in 2022, and has steadily picked up steam since then. As exemplified by the use of the word in Parliament by the Canadian Conservative Party since 2022, it covers a wide range of activities, including “race and gender inclusivity in school curriculums and workplace hiring practices, attempts to modernize Canada’s military, animal rights activism, the country’s telecommunications regulator, the bail system, drug supply policies, reusable grocery bags, pro-Palestinian protests, and the federal carbon pricing scheme” (Patel, 2025). While the term expands outward to include a broad diversity of elements, it distills inwards to one central concept, control. The leader of the Conservative Party, Pierre Poilievre, succinctly stated in the House:

It has plenty of pretexts but only one purpose: control. It is designed to divide people by race, gender, ethnicity, religion, vaccine status and any other way one can divide people into groups. Why? It is because then one can justify having a government to control all those groups. No more woke. We need freedom (Patel, 2025, online).

Baked into the “anti-woke” sloganeering – as well as the anti-DEI (Diversity/Equity/Inclusion) campaign in Canada, the U.S. and elsewhere – is an emphatic rejection of the advances made by civil rights and social justice movements. In Carol Off’s careful dissection of the term, we see its insertion into the culture wars discourse as a “cudgel with which to attack those seeking fairness and inclusion” (Off, 2024). Used dismissively, it is a conversation killer. Alongside truthiness, it is part of a potent cocktail of disinformation used by the contemporary Right to shut down debate and keep the focus on abstract concepts, such as elites and globalists, who are a threat to individual and group freedom. Into this mix of step urban planners, climate crisis activists, and green economy advocates.

The struggle to resist 15-minutes cities

Oxford (UK), Ontario (Canada) and California (USA) are many miles apart but all three have been focal points for anti-greening activism. Oxford is the more well-known case of resistance to the 15-minute city; Ontario is a nodal point for a growing municipal anti-greening activism movement in small-town Canada; and Los Angeles is the latest high-profile incident of a major environmental disaster becoming a hotbed for conspiracy theories. In recent years, Oxford has become a lightning rod for protests against the proposed implementation of the “15-minute city” model. These protests, fueled by a mix of local concerns, conspiracy theories, and political opposition, reflect broader debates over urban planning, government intervention, and personal freedoms (Silva, 2023). They center around the idea that any proposed changes designed to reduce traffic congestion and carbon emissions would result in governmental overreach, unnecessary surveillance and a loss of “freedom.” The Oxford 15-minute city proposal seems, at first blush, wholesome and modestly impactful. Key elements of the plan include creating “traffic filters” (low-traffic zones) that restrict access to certain roads for motor vehicles, encouraging walking and cycling, and ensuring that all essential services (shops, schools, healthcare, etc.) are accessible within a 15-minute walk or bike ride. The plan is part of the city’s broader efforts to reduce carbon emissions, improve air quality, and encourage a shift away from car-dependent transport, ultimately creating a more sustainable, walkable, and bike-friendly urban environment consistent with historic UK town centers.

This ambitious vision sparked strong opposition from some residents, local activists, and political groups, who argue that these changes would restrict personal freedom and mobility (Ames, 2023; Grainger, 2023). In 2023 and 2024, a number of public protests were organized in response that included marches, rallies and demonstrations, some of which drew hundreds of participants. Protesters carried placards with slogans like “Don’t lock us in” or “Freedom to move,” while others raised concerns about surveillance and economic impacts. Social media platforms like Facebook, X/Twitter and Telegram became hotspots for conspiracy theorists and anti-15-minute city activists’ views and misinformation. One of the most widely circulated claims on social media was that the plan was secretly tied to a globalist agenda (globalism is a buzz word and part of a metonymic chain that interchangeably includes The Great Reset, the UN, the World Health Organization, the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab, George Soros, Bill Gates, etc.). This plan of the globalists would eventually lead to the imposition of digital IDs and complete surveillance of citizens’ movements. These theories gained traction among certain segments of the population, further energizing protests. To little avail, local officials assured the public that the plan would be implemented with extensive community consultation as well as considerable efforts to improve accessibility for vulnerable populations, including those with disabilities. Eventually, however, the Oxford municipal council was compelled to eliminate the term ’15-minute city’ from their deliberations, agreeing it had become ‘toxic’ (Ames, 2024).

In Canada, until now, the anti-greening movement (informal and formal resistance to green economy, Green New Deal, and gentle change such as rewilding and bike lanes) is more diffuse, but this is part of its method. After the experience of the occupation of Ottawa by the 2022 truckers’ convoy and anti-vaccination mandate forces, right-wing activists recognized that they could take their “freedom” protests to municipal councils across the country with far less cost and inconvenience (Rider, 2024). A lightening-rod for this nascent movement is a Pickering (Ontario, Canada) municipal Councilor who has so disrupted the work of the municipal council that the council has moved its meetings online (Mendleson, 2024). But this is only the thin edge of the wedge. An initiative called KICLEI (2005.) has formed to oppose the work of ICLEI (the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives) and to “kick out” local environmental initiatives, which are viewed as a war on cars and freedom of movement (Kicking International Council out of Local Environmental Initiatives). The KICLEI initiative resolves “to reclaim local governance and resist global mandates that undermine sovereignty,” “to promote environmental stewardship. . . not globally mandated net-zero goals,” and thus to withdraw from national and international alliances such as the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and Partners for Climate Protection. KICLEI conducts workshops and provides resources for activists who wish to intervene in local municipal councils to disrupt greening initiatives that have even weak links to global alliances. As of this writing, KICLEI has had some successes convincing municipal councils to overturn initiatives and to withdraw from municipal alliances (KICLEI, 2005).

A flash point for the anti-15-minute city campaigners was the aftermath of the devastating Los Angeles fires of early 2025. Amid the chaos, conspiracy theories surfaced that suggested these fires were intentionally set to clear land for the development of a “smart city,” allegedly orchestrated by globalist agendas and possibly connected to preparations for the imminent 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. These claims, while unfounded, gained traction on various social media platforms, reflecting a broader pattern of how misinformation can be weaponized during crises. Comparisons were made to the 2023 Maui wildfires, alleging both may be part of deliberate plans to establish smart cities. Central to these conspiracy theories is the Smart LA 2028 initiative, an official plan by the City of Los Angeles to integrate advanced technologies to improve urban living ahead of the 2028 Olympics. The strategy focuses on enhancing services such as traffic management, energy efficiency, and public safety through technological innovations.

The rapid spread of these conspiracy theories highlights the influential role of social media in disseminating misinformation. Platforms like X, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok became hotbeds for such claims, with users sharing unverified information that often went viral. Often, these theories depend on some sliver of truth. Indeed, the planned SmartLA 2028 initiative aims to integrate city services into a central app, monitor electricity use and provide early warnings for emergencies such as fires; it does not propose destroying and rebuilding the city (Briceño, 2025). This phenomenon underscores the challenges authorities and the public face in distinguishing fact from fiction during emergencies. Experts and fact-checking organizations have consistently debunked these conspiracy theories. For instance, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reported that extremists and conspiracy theorists were spreading falsehoods about the fires, blaming various scapegoats without evidence. Wildly, claims were made to blame DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) for the fires, with the reputations and abilities of the female mayor and lesbian fire chief sullied online, alongside attempts to somehow attach blame to the Jewish community (Center on Extremism, 2025). While the Los Angeles wildfires were a tragedy that resulted from natural factors such as drought and high winds, the concurrent rise of conspiracy theories linking the fires to smart city developments and globalist agendas illustrates the pervasive nature of misinformation in the digital age. The emergence of these conspiracy theories is not an isolated incident. Similar narratives have surfaced during other natural disasters, reflecting a growing distrust for authorities and official narratives. This skepticism is often fueled by a lack of understanding of development initiatives and a propensity to attribute malicious intent to complex events.

Conclusion

This brief analysis reveals a deeply polarized landscape where the promise of sustainable urbanism is entangled with conspiracy theories and fears of authoritarian control. The discussion highlights that the 15‐minute city, intended to create accessible, community-centric spaces, has become a lightning rod for debates over individual freedom, governmental overreach, and digital surveillance. Critics argue that these urban initiatives serve as preludes to a technocratic regime, while proponents maintain that they offer practical solutions to climate change and urban congestion. Central to this conflict is the erosion of truth in a post-factual era where misinformation undermines public trust and complicates democratic discourse. Through the lens of Pygmalion democracy, the chapter illuminates how citizens’ idealized expectations of democracy contribute to both its reproduction and its vulnerabilities. These expectations often mask inadequacies in participatory engagement and fuel disillusionment with representative systems. Moreover, the interplay between neoliberal economic policies, social stratification, and the digital transformation of media exacerbates these tensions, as diverse groups clash over visions of progress and control. Ultimately, the chapter suggests the need for a reinvigorated democratic practice that embraces transparency, inclusivity, critical engagement, and genuine public participation. In uniting these themes, the analysis not only critiques current trends but also suggests pathways to recalibrate democratic ideals, urging a collective reimagining of civic life in an era marked by rapid change and pervasive uncertainty.

Ultimately, it appears that we are only scratching the surface of conspiracies and campaigns against climate crisis activism. The tight conceptual knot that has been tied between climate action, social justice activism (a.k.a. “wokeness”), and globalism has resulted in a hot mess of overlapping conspiracies that act as metonymic signifiers for one another. The ur-myth of a Great Reset associated with the UN 2030 sustainable development goals timeline has put a large percentage of world populations on alert and has made them highly susceptible to rumors and conspiracies. One mention of ‘fill in the blanks’ brings forth suspicion and outrage. For example, UNESCO, the UN or USAID invoke the globalists; DEI invokes the “woke”; and 15-minute cities invoke the “war on the car”; etc. To add to the chaos and confusion, each of these three nodes invokes the other nodes in a metonymic, circular chain. In its (il)logical conclusion, there is no environmental activist who is not also a woke globalist who threatens the “freedom” of the awake person or people who resist seemingly benign urban planning proposals such as 15-minute cities.

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