An Integral Sustainable Design Framework to Evaluate Transferability of the 15-Minute City to Developing Cities: The Case of Blantyre, Malawi

Worldwide, the COVID-19 Pandemic Tested Policy Frameworks and Urban Systems, Highlighting Systemic Inequities and Vulnerabilities Among Many Communities. City Authorities and Urbanists Have Devised Strategies to Better Facilitate Resilient City Living to Enable Communities to Not Only Survive But Also Thrive in Times of Crisis, Such As the COVID-19 Pandemic. Urban Planning Concepts Such As Chrono-Urbanism Have Become Popular, and the 15-Minute City Has Particularly Shown Promise As a Planning Strategy for Resiliency in the Global North. However, Its Transferability to the Global South Is Unknown. Thus, This Research Posed the Question: to What Extent Is the 15-Minute City Model Integral and Sustainable Design, and Is It Transferable to Developing Cities? Using Secondary Quantitative Data Analysis and Convergence Analysis in the Urban Region of Blantyre, Malawi, this research aimed to test the conceptual approach of the 15-Minute City Against the Framework of Integral Design Theory and Explore Its Transferability to Developing Cities. This Study Used the Perspectives of Experience, Performance, Culture, and Systems to analyze and map the impacts of the 15-Minute City On Urban Dwellers. The Research Findings Showed That the 15-Minute City Model Could Not Be Transferred to Developing Cities Unless Modified to a Framework That Considered Developing Urban Phenomena Such As Informality and Low Digitization. Therefore, a More Suitable Approach Would Be the Integral Developing City Concept. This Model Can Be Deployed in Harmony With Informal Systems Prevalent in Most Developing Cities in the Global South and to steer sustainable development.