Carlos Moreno’s Urban Improvement Efforts (the 15-minute city) Under Attack by Conspiracy Theorists.

Carlos Moreno, a scientist and business professor at Sorbonne University in Paris, has been facing a deluge of conspiracy theories and death threats in recent weeks. Moreno is the man behind the popular urban planning concept called the 15-minute city, which suggests that everyday destinations such as schools, stores, and offices should be only a short walk or bike ride away from home. However, the conspiracy theorists have taken aim at Moreno’s proposal, claiming that 15-minute cities are a precursor to “climate change lockdowns” and urban “prison camps” in which residents’ movements would be surveilled and heavily restricted.

The false claims have circulated online, at protests, and even in government hearings, driven in part by climate change deniers and backers of the QAnon conspiracy theory. Moreno has faced harassment in online forums and over email, with people accusing him without evidence of being an agent of an invisible totalitarian world government. He has even received death threats, with people proposing that he be nailed into a coffin or run over by a cement roller.