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Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs

Proximity economy

The proximity economy consists of local and short value chains, local production and consumption, human-centric city models and social economy business models. One characteristic vision for the proximity economy is the ‘15-minute city’, where everything a citizen needs is within a 15-minute walk or bike ride.

The proximity economy connects to other industrial ecosystems, notably construction, mobility, energy, retail, food, digital and tourism. The groups concerned share different roles as users, producers, consumers and investors.

A proximity economy consists of diverse enabling ‘proximity hubs’ such as cities, local communities, community-led initiatives, business clusters and public-private partnerships.