Adapting the 15-Minute City to North America: A Framework for Neighborhood Clusters with Urban Agriculture and Green Mobility

To reduce GHG emissions from food miles and enhance urban food security, this study develops and evaluates an integrated framework combining three strategies: the 15-minute city concept, urban agriculture, and a renewable-energy-powered green transportation (GT) system. The goal is to create a scalable, holistic approach to sustainable food production and distribution within neighborhoods. A Food Production and Transportation Framework is proposed, modeling vegetable cultivation across rooftops, facades, and lot spaces, with optimized allocations based on a tailored Food Production Schedule. The harvested produce is distributed via GT powered by sidewalk-integrated photovoltaics (PVs). Results demonstrate that using 15% of roof, facade, and lot spaces yields an achieved annual food self-sufficiency of 100%. The transportation system operates with a single GT unit powered by 98 m2 of sidewalk PVs, reducing CO2 emissions by 98% from the base case. Economic analysis indicates a payback period of 2.8 years, with the cost of PV-generated electricity estimated at C$0.92/kWh. This framework highlights that 0.19 units of local food production offset one unit of CO2 emissions. This integrated approach advances multiple UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 2 (Zero Hunger), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), and SDG 13 (Climate Action).