Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

1-2025

Abstract

Over the past decade, the x-minute city — or “chrono-urbanism” — has gained traction intransport planning, emphasizing residents’ ability to access essential destinations within15-min travel time from their homes. Some cities, including Sydney and Singapore, haveextended this concept to commuting, with Singapore’s Land Transport Authority targetinga “45-min city” for daily commutes by 2040. While well-intentioned, applying time-basedgoals to commuting remains controversial. This study evaluates the validity of thex-minute commute city as a transport planning objective by examining the link betweencommuting duration and well-being. Using high-frequency panel data from 2,535Singapore residents aged 55 to 75, we analyze how commuting affects life satisfaction.Among Housing and Development Board residents using walk–cycle–ride modes, 45.5%report one-way commutes exceeding 45 min. Contrary to the “commuting paradox”,longer commutes were not associated with lower life satisfaction. During the COVID-19pandemic, around 30% of respondents worked from home, yet the absence of commutingdid not correlate with higher well-being. These findings call for caution in extending the15-min city concept from local accessibility to job accessibility. Rather, policies should beguided by empirical evidence and nuanced understandings of local contexts and urbantrade-offs, as well as travel behavior and preferences.

Keywords

45-min city, chrono urbanism, long commutes, commuting paradox, COVID-19, commuting impacts, working from home

Discipline

Behavioral Economics | Transportation | Urban Studies and Planning

Research Areas

Applied Microeconomics

Publication

International Journal on Smart and Sustainable Cities

Volume

3

First Page

1

Last Page

26

ISSN

2972-4252

Identifier

10.1142/S2972426025500059

Publisher

World Scientific

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1142/S2972426025500059

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