“The idea is that cities should be designed or redesigned so that within the distance of a 15-minute walk or bike ride people should be able to?.?.?.?access work, housing, food, health, education, culture and leisure.” So goes the credo of academic Carlos Moreno’s philosophy of urban design, one that has been seized upon by Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, among others.

Watching Moreno’s TED talk one day last year, it dawned on me that I already live in his ideal metropolis: Frankfurt am Main.

“Ideal” is an adjective that has rarely been applied to Germany’s financial capital, least of all by outsiders. When I told friends in 2019 that I was moving from Delhi to Frankfurt, they could barely disguise their pity. “I’m sure you’ll make the best of it,” said one acquaintance. My social and cultural life would be over, was the implied message, and at such a tender age too.