2.4.3. Case study methodology, unit of analysis, materials, and methods

documents explicitly mention any reference to the concept, rather it was triangulated that the city’s recent interventions in creating complexity models in Superillas blocks was being referred to be aligned to the FMC concept, Similarly, Mayor of London had announced adaptation of 15 minute concept, however, in its final version of comprehensive plans, no explicit notion of 15-20 minute city exists (Sisson, 2020). For the purpose of narrowing the scope of selection of cases, only OECD countries were selected, as the theoretical research undertaken in the previous sections coincided with the OECD countries particularly AngloSexon and European cities. Moreover, Non-OECD countries such as China and India represent complex challenges to understand design principles related to time-use in city like Density as well as socio-economic considerations of informal economies. (Henckel et al., 2015)

The selection criteria for the case studies were developed as follows: 1. Explicit mention, adaptation, and application of 15–20-minute city/neighbourhood at city scale 2. Use of FMC as a major spatial and functional element of city planning 3. Availability of Implementation strategy and action plan Thus, only 4 cities qualified from all the city strategies explored, i.e Portland 20 minute neighbourhoods, Melbourne’s 20 minute neighbourhoods, Paris, City of Quarter hour and Ottawa’s 15 minute neighbourhoods. Of all the four cases, apart from Ottawa, all the others demonstrated clear advantage of on-ground progress through completed pilot projects at least and thus were selected. Overall, the formulated criteria secured the cases where FMC discourse is explicitly dealt through planning measures, practical advances and future ambitions are present.

2.4.3. Case study methodology, unit of analysis, materials, and methods

Case study research has been a prominent method of enquiry in many disciplines. Creswell et. al (2018, p. 245) suggests the case-study methodology as a ‘design-type’ in qualitative research, an object of the study, and a product of enquiry. The authors concluded that the case study approach is in which the researcher/ investigators approach a bounded system (interpreted as case, here) or multiple bounded systems through a detailed, in-depth data collection involving various sources of information and reports a case description through case-based themes.

To further the understanding the phenomenon of FMC and the notion of spatial proximity put forward by the concept, defining the unit of analysis is essential to focussing, framing and management of data collection and analysis (Conticelli, 2019). Thus, the structural basis of this research is the design of strategies that create accessibility by proximity. According to Yin (2009) Case study approach entails use of multiple sources of evidence like documents, observations, interviews, and so on. This approach provides a better synergised and comprehensive view of the object under study.