Zaragoza in 15 minutes: a story told through maps

The development of many cities has been guided by the principles of petroleum urbanism, which have created urban areas primarily designed for motor vehicles, often neglecting the primary subject inhabiting them: people. The current challenges facing the modern city of the 21st century call into question the established urban system. Consequently, international programs such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the New Urban Agenda have been established, setting goals and initiatives to address these challenges. In this context, the concept of the “15-Minute City” emerged in Paris, proposed as an urban model to address the economic, environmental, and social issues of our time. This article examines Zaragoza’s situation regarding this chrono-urbanist model, analyzing three of its fundamental principles: the city must be compact, complex, and accessible, while also assessing citizen participation initiatives. The creation of a new index that combines these three urban indicators, along with the cartographic representation of the results, allows for the identification of the spatial distribution of this urban model in Zaragoza. Adapting the research in form and content to its StoryMap version has brought the results closer to a wider audience, revealing that Zaragoza is not entirely a 15-minute city, although there are areas where this model is observed. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze our cities to identify the lines of action that future comprehensive tactical urban planning should follow.