Assessing equitable access in X-minute cities through open spatial data

There is a growing emphasis on active transport, prompting cities to be redesigned as more pedestrian-friendly environments. This shift has fueled interest in proximity-based planning models, such as the X-minute city, which are increasingly promoted for their potential public health and environmental benefits. However, equity considerations in the assessment of such models are often neglected or rely on local datasets that limit broader applicability. In response, we introduce a method for evaluating equity under the X-minute city paradigm using open data and established accessibility metrics and grounded in the ethical frameworks of egalitarianism and sufficientarianism. Applying our method to Athens, Stockholm, and Amsterdam, we assess equitable access to essential services and amenities, including supermarkets, playgrounds, and public transport stations. Our findings demonstrate that the choice of ethical framework plays a critical role in shaping equity assessments, and that disaggregating by destination type reveals distinct spatial patterns of accessibility, shedding light on both the strengths and limitations of different urban areas. The application of our method also surfaces unexpected insights: Athens—despite its car-dependent image—emerges as the most aligned with the X-minute city model, while Stockholm’s decentralized form underscores the need to adapt time thresholds to local urban structure and behavior. Overall, the method’s reproducibility and use of open-data support cross-city comparisons and contribute to the evolving methodological toolkit for evaluating proximity-based planning.