Timeless urban design: the 15-Minute City and Yazd’s historic Fahadan neighborhood

Yazd’s historic Fahadan neighborhood embodies the principles of the 15-Minute City, demonstrating that traditional urban design can achieve modern sustainability goals. A GIS-based analysis revealed a compact, mixed-use morphology where 78.53% of residential areas are within a 5-minute walk of shops and 67.74% near green spaces, with proximity to religious and cultural amenities universally accessible in under 5 minutes. While educational and healthcare services showed lower accessibility—with some areas exceeding the 15-minute threshold—the findings highlight how traditional Iranian urbanism integrates climate-responsive, socially cohesive design without relying on modern infrastructure. This challenges the notion that the 15-Minute City is a contemporary innovation, instead positioning it as a timeless, context-sensitive approach to urban living.

Mozaffaree Pour, N., & Moayedfar, S. (2026). Timeless urban design: the 15-Minute City and Yazd’s historic Fahadan neighborhood. Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/17549175.2026.2636762