For a new study, titled “A universal framework for inclusive 15-minute cities”, researchers built an online database comparing roughly 10,000 cities around the world based on accessibility – by foot or bicycle – to essential services such as shops, schools, health centres, parks and cafés.

The researchers used open source data to map out how far of a walk or cycle residents were from different, essential services, including shops, restaurants, education, exercise and healthcare.

Their goal was to rank the world’s ’15-minute cities’ – which they define as places where “citizens [can] satisfy their personal needs by travelling no more than 15 minutes away from their home on bike or on foot.

“These needs should include goods, work, sport and cultural activities.”

The ranking therefore encompasses both the ease of walking and cycling in a city, and the range of local amenities that are available in each neighbourhood, from health centres and parks to boulangeries and schools.

What about France?

Overall, the researchers also found that population density is a crucial factor for ’15-minute cities’ – basically, if enough people are living close enough to each other, it is much easier for them to have easy access to services.

This meant that somewhat smaller yet relatively dense cities scored well on their map.

However, the lead author of the study, Matteo Bruno, told AFP that Paris was ‘an outlier’ among the world’s biggest cities for how quick it is to walk or cycle to essential services.

The researchers estimated that this may be related to Anne Hidalgo, the Paris Mayor’s early embrace of the 15-minute city concept in 2020.

READ MORE: What is a ’15-minute city’ and how is it working in Paris?

As for France’s other cities – five made it to the top 20 (Grenoble, Nancy, Rennes, Paris, Arras) of all global cities for having the shortest average walking time to access local services and amenities. 

An additional five French cities (Dijon, Lyon, Marseille, Montpellier, Nantes) fell in the top 20 to 40 range. 

Find your French town

The authors’ map is interactive and public, meaning anyone can access the information contained, and zoom in to find how well their French town or city scores.

The city’s ranking is an average of several categories for the distance to essential activities you would need to get to in daily life. You can use the drop-down menu to explore these.

Places in dark blue are considered the most accessible, and the opposite for those in dark red.

The categories include:

• Outside activities (parks, walks, picnics)
• Learning (schools, universities)
• Supplies (supermarkets, grocery stores)
• Eating (restaurants, bistros, cafes)
• Moving (bus stations, train stations, taxis)
• Cultural activities (museums, theatres, cinemas)
• Physical Exercise (gyms, sport centres)
• Services (offices, banks, post offices, town halls)
• Healthcare (hospitals, doctors, pharmacies).

The French top cities

Grenoble

The eastern French city is particularly known for its close proximity to the mountains, as such it is sometimes referred to as the ‘capital of the Alps’, with the Isère river running through it.

It scored the highest of French cities, with its 287,938 inhabitants having an ‘average proximity walk’ of six minutes to their local services, while the average proximity bicycle ride was three minutes.

READ MORE: French ‘capital of the Alps’ tops global ranking for best quality of life

The city has invested heavily in its cycle paths, with more than 450 km of bicycle routes, according to the town hall, and has won several other awards relating to quality of life for its residents.

Nancy

This eastern French city – located in the Grand Est region – came in 12th place overall for walk/cycle times to essential services for its 193,554-strong population.

The average walk to any of the above locations would take seven minutes, while the average bicycle ride – perhaps to bank or museum – would take three. 

Both Grenoble and Nancy’s suburbs did not perform as well, but the centre of the city had travel times (by foot or bicycle) of less than 10 minutes to get to neighbourhood amenities.

Rennes

Rennes came in 13th place globally with an average ‘proximity walk’ of seven minutes, and the average bicycle ride took three minutes. When interacting with the map in parts of central Rennes, most though journeys to local services took under 10 minutes, either by bicycle or foot.

However, the suburbs and peripheral areas, particularly in the north-west, showed longer distances, especially for the ‘supplies’ (getting to supermarkets or grocery stores) category.

Rennes routinely ranks highly among France’s ‘most green’ cities. In 2023, it came in second place. Almost a quarter (22 percent) of the city’s total surface area is dedicated to green spaces, with 63 percent of its road network including trees and greenery.

Paris

France’s capital showed an average walk time of eight minutes, and bicycle time of four minutes. 

When hovering over areas in central Paris, namely the first four arrondissements, the travel times to essential services were less than five minutes for all categories.

Distances to transport services (the ‘moving’ category) were the longest across the board in Paris, and in central areas it took between 5-6 minutes.

However, peripheral areas and western arrondissements, such as portions of the 15th, 8th, 7th and 16th, showed slightly longer walking/ bicycling commutes, particularly for ‘moving’ (which sometimes exceeded 10 minutes).

The other best French cities for walking/ cycling were;

Arras – The northern French city, located near Lille, came in fifth place for France. The average walking time to services was eight minutes, and the average biking time was four minutes.

Dijon – Located in eastern France, in Burgundy, the average proximity walk was eight minutes, while bicycling was three minutes. This city scored 10th best globally for cycling.

Lyon – Also in eastern France, and the country’s third most populous city, Lyon had an eight minute average walking time, and a four minute average bicycling time.

Marseille – The second city, located along the Mediterranean and home to over 903,004 people (using the study’s figures), had an average walking time of eight minutes, and bicycling time of four minutes.

Montpellier – Also located along the Mediterranean, Montpellier showed the same averages as Marseille, with eight minutes for travel by foot, and four minutes for travel by bicycle.

Nantes – The western French city had an average walking time of eight minutes and an average cycling time of four minutes. 

What about the worst scoring towns?

The study also included the cities in France that took longer to get to essential services by foot or bicycle – either because the walking/cycle facilities are poor or because neighbourhood lack crucial amenities (or both).

They included:

• Vannes (located in Brittany, with an average walking time to essential services of 30 minutes, and cycling time of 14 minutes)
• Angoulême (located in the south-west, 30 minutes to walk/ 13 minutes to cycle)
• Béziers (located in southern France, 30 minutes to walk/ 14 minutes to cycle)
• Albi (also located in southern France, 30 minutes to walk/ 14 minutes to cycle)
• Fréjus (along the Mediterranean near Nice, 29 minutes to walk/ 14 minutes to cycle)