The report summarizes the results of a two-year planning and research study designed to investigate how a comprehensive, multi-goal planning and policy framework can be used to achieve carbon-neutral transportation choices that simultaneously support healthy, just, and resilient communities for all New Jersey residents.

The 15-minute neighborhood concept gained visibility as the global pandemic demonstrated that local access to basic life needs is critically important. In addition to being an important contribution to New Jersey’s efforts to achieve its goals of reducing pollution that causes climate change, 15-minute neighborhoods provide residents with easy access to parks, schools, gathering places, social services, places to buy healthy fresh food, and, in some cases, public transit, within a comfortable walk or bike ride.

Near-term, multi-billion-dollar investments in infrastructure, a revolution in transportation technologies not seen in a century, the recalibration of relationships between people and places brought about by the pandemic, and converging policies related to energy, health, climate, transportation, and environmental justice provide New Jersey with an unprecedented opportunity to rethink and adjust how we design and build communities.

This report was prepared by the Alan M. Voorhees Transportation Center at Rutgers University for the New Jersey Climate Change Alliance and the NJ Climate Change Resource Center, the New Jersey State Policy Lab, and The Nature Conservancy.