The article features an excerpt from the keynote lecture of Prof. Carlos Moreno, held at the ACSP congress 2025 in Vienna.
The 15-minute city is not a trend nor a slogan. It is the expression of a transformation in lifestyles, work patterns, mobility, and consumption. At its heart lies a simple but radical ambition: to reorganize cities around proximity, human wellbeing, and permanent access to essential services. Retail — and the real estate that hosts it — stands at the very center of this transformation.
Proximity as a New Urban Paradigm
The 15-minute city is first and foremost about changing lifestyles. Not only how we move, but how we work, shop, learn, care, and socialize. The objective is not to create a “perfect city for all”, but a city for everyone, capable of responding to diverse needs across generations, cultures, and social conditions.
This requires a shift towards permanent accessibility: access to services anytime, anywhere, within walking or cycling distance. It is a human-centered approach to urban development, one that places identity, social cohesion, and quality of life at its core.
For more than 15 years, my research has focused on this idea of proximity — not as a nostalgic return to the past, but as a methodology to understand how cities can be reshaped today. Proximity is not about reducing cities; it is about enriching them.
This article was published in ACROSS Issue 1|2026
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The End of Segregated Cities
For decades, our cities have been shaped by a dominant paradigm of functional segregation. Living, working, shopping, learning, and leisure were separated into distinct zones, connected only by long commutes. This model, promoted in the 20th century — particularly after the Second World War — produced cities organized around cars, shopping malls on the outskirts, and mono-functional business districts.
Across continents — from Europe to Latin America to Asia — we see the same urban form repeated: central business districts, peripheral shopping centers, and long daily journeys. This model has generated three major forms of obesity: the obesity of cities, of cars, and of people.
Retail has been deeply affected by this logic. Large shopping centers became destinations accessible mainly by car, disconnected from daily life and neighborhood identity. Today, many of these centers face decline or abandonment. This is not an accident — it is the consequence of an outdated urban and economic model.
Covid-19 as an Urban Turning Point
The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated changes that were already underway. Lifestyles, work patterns, and shopping behaviors were transformed almost overnight. E-commerce expanded rapidly, while many shopping centers — especially those dependent on commuting flows — were left vulnerable.
In Europe alone, a significant proportion of shopping malls are now struggling or abandoned. This reality forces us to confront a fundamental question: should we continue with the traditional consumption-driven retail model, or should we reinvent it?
The 15-minute city offers a clear answer. Retail must evolve from a logic of volume and distance to one of proximity, experience, and connection.
From Consumption to Connection
At the heart of the 15-minute city is a shift from consumption to connection. Retail spaces are no longer just places to buy; they are places to meet, interact, learn, and belong.
Local commerce plays a decisive role in social cohesion. Streets with active shops are safer, more vibrant, and more inclusive. When commerce disappears from city centers and neighborhoods, social life weakens, and cities lose their soul.
Retail is therefore not a secondary function — it is a social infrastructure. Shops, cafés, bookstores, and services create daily interactions that anchor people to their neighborhoods. They foster the sense of belonging that is essential for resilient communities.
For retail real estate, this implies a profound change in business models. The future lies not in mono-functional retail assets, but in mixed-use, multifunctional places embedded in everyday life.
Proximity and Climate Change
Climate change is now the first global threat facing cities. Mobility based on long car commutes is a major source of CO₂ emissions, air pollution, and public health issues. Proximity offers a concrete and immediate response.
When essential services — including retail — are accessible within short distances, cities reduce emissions while improving quality of life. Proximity is therefore not a constraint on economic activity; it is a condition for sustainable growth.
Retail located in proximity supports local supply chains, circular economy practices, and low-carbon logistics. It enables shorter delivery routes, local production, and reuse of ground-floor spaces. In this sense, retail becomes a driver of ecological resilience.
The 15-Minute City and Retail Real Estate
For investors, developers, and operators, the implications are clear:
- Location is no longer about maximum catchment areas, but about integration into neighborhood life.
- Value creation comes from mixed uses — retail combined with culture, health, education, and services.
- Ground floors become strategic assets, hosting social and economic life.
- Flexibility replaces rigid formats, allowing spaces to evolve with community needs.
Retail real estate must move beyond the traditional shopping center model and embrace a polycentric city, where multiple local hubs support daily life across the entire urban fabric.
Paris as a Living Laboratory
Paris offers a concrete example of this transformation. The 15-minute city has been implemented not only in the historic center, but across the entire city, including peripheral districts.
A key instrument has been the creation of a public commercial property company, managing retail spaces to support local businesses at affordable rents. Bookstores, artisans, food producers, cultural venues, and health services have been prioritized over speculative uses.
The result is a decentralized network of new urban centralities, where retail anchors social life and economic activity. Former industrial or abandoned areas have been transformed into inclusive neighborhoods, demonstrating the potential of proximity-based retail real estate.
Similar projects are emerging across Europe and beyond, from regenerated brownfields in Central Europe to mixed-use districts in Asia and the Middle East.
Measuring Proximity, Designing the Future
To implement the 15-minute city, we must move from ideology to methodology. Today, it is possible to analyze cities block by block, identifying access to schools, healthcare, shops, culture, and services within short distances.
This data-driven approach allows cities, retailers, and property owners to adapt offerings to demographic realities — whether ageing populations, families, or young professionals. Retail strategies must respond not only to today’s needs, but to those of the next 10, 20, or 30 years.
Retail becomes a strategic lever in rebalancing cities, reducing inequalities, and ensuring access for all.
The Power of Three Intelligences
The future of retail in the 15-minute city relies on the combination of three forms of intelligence:
- Artificial intelligence, supporting digital services, logistics, and omnichannel retail.
- Adaptive intelligence, enabling cities and businesses to respond to crises — from heatwaves to economic shocks.
- Ancestral intelligence, rooted in local knowledge, crafts, culture, and community practices.
Retail spaces that integrate these three intelligences become resilient, meaningful, and future-proof.
Retail as a Social Business
In the 15-minute city, retail is no longer just an economic activity — it is a social business. Shops are places of interaction, care, and identity. They contribute to public health, social inclusion, and democratic life.
For the European retail real estate sector, this represents an extraordinary opportunity. By embracing proximity, mixed use, and social value, retail assets can once again become engines of urban vitality.
The choice is clear: continue investing in obsolete models or take part in the renaissance of cities through proximity.
Conclusion: A Call to Action
The 15-minute city is not about shrinking ambition — it is about re-centering it. Retail and retail real estate have a decisive role to play in this transition. By moving from consumption to connection, from distance to proximity, and from segregation to inclusion, we can build cities that are more resilient, more sustainable, and more human. This transformation is already underway. The question is not whether it will happen — but who will lead it.
About Carlos Moreno & ACSP
Carlos Moreno is Professor and Scientific Director of the Chair “Entrepreneurship – Territory – Innovation” at IAE Paris–Sorbonne Business School. Born 1959 in Tunja, Colombia, he is internationally recognized for his work on smart, sustainable cities and is the author of The 15-Minute City. His ideas have influenced urban policies worldwide. He was named Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor in 2010 and received the Medal of Prospective from the French Academy of Architecture in 2019.
The ACSP – Austrian Council of Shopping Places, founded in 1992, is Austria’s the largest independent trade association for the retail real estate and shopping center industry. It maintains a strong international network and strategic partnerships with relevant companies, associations, and organizations.
Professor Moreno was keynote speaker at the ACSP-Congress 2025 in Vienna.
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