New Designs on the Block

American politicians enjoy declaring unwinnable wars on nouns. The ’60s bore witness to the war on poverty, the ’70s saw Reagan wage the war on drugs, and the ’00s have seen the rise of a war on terror. Is a war on cars up next?

Ever since Seattle rolled out an ambitious growth plan limiting driving and promoting public transportation in 2016, usage of the phrase “War on Cars” has hit the gas pedal. But Seattle is far from the only city that has taken note of the large volume of cars slowly encroaching on city streets. In particular, Barcelona and other Spanish cities have begun waging a war on automotive transport using a creative new tactic: superblocks.

The layout of a superblock — or, in Catalan, a superille — is simple. Take a regular city block, lump it together with eight other blocks, then cut off all car traffic to the streets within the superblock. There are six major goals of this plan, all of which fall under the umbrella goal of improving the environmental friendliness and social cohesion of the city. Already, three superblocks have been fully implemented in Barcelona, with more on the way.

Barcelona’s transition has not been without its roadblocks. Protesters have criticized the inconveniences that superblocks have caused, denouncing their apparent propensity to create traffic jams and stifle local businesses. In spite of reported drawbacks, the vision behind superblocks is tantalizing. The Barcelonan Department of Ecology, Urban Planning and Mobility that is spearheading this endeavor states that its purpose is to “fill the city’s streets with life.” Barcelona may provide a useful case study and model for future cities wishing to combat the issues relating to automotive transport. While superblocks will face temporary issues ranging from driving logistics to emergency planning, their environmental and social benefits will far outweigh the costs.

The Streets of the Past

Although superblocks have only recently garnered international attention, they were first introduced in Barcelona decades ago. The El Born neighborhood led the charge in 1993, and the Gracia neighborhood soon followed in 2005. In 2015, the mayoral election of housing activist Ada Colau, a founding member of the Platform for People Affected by Mortgages, made superblocks into a legislative priority.

While specific implementation details vary between neighborhoods, the underlying idea remains the same: nine city blocks grouped together in an area within which car traffic is banned. Superblocks are built to address issues that are universal in cities around the world, from transportation infrastructure to air pollution to culture.

Barcelona’s model represents only one unique iteration of the idea of superblocks. China has undertaken its own project as well — except, instead of trying to create greenspace, Chinese superblocks attempt to cram as many people into high-rise apartments as possible. College campuses and medical facilities are more commonplace examples of superblock-esque architecture. Joseph Cutrufo, the communications director of the New York City-based nonprofit Transportation Alternatives, told the HPR that New York City’s “neighborhood slow zones” function as a type of superblock where speed limits are lowered to prevent accidents. As conversations about transferring federal power to localities and increasing the governing power of cities take over the political sphere, superblocks are slowly creeping into the strategic vocabulary of cities around the world.

To Block or Not To Block

The rising prevalence of superblocks does not necessarily correlate with their rising popularity. As Salvador Rueda, founder of the Urban Ecology Agency of Barcelona and the director of the superblock implementation project, mused in an interview with the HPR, “People don’t want to change their habits.” Superblocks affect the fundamental building blocks of everyday life for people who live in and around them, from increasing commute times to changing parking spaces to simply transforming the aesthetic of the community. Rueda commented that making people adjust something as simple as their walking habits from a straight line to a curved path often breeds resentment — an evolutionary quirk, he said, that is also found in other animals like ants.

This resistance to change is likely what has caused protests against superblocks in regions like El Poblenou, a bustling neighborhood of Barcelona, whose residents have complained about the new superblock hindering their access to the city center or interfering with local business practices. Rueda dryly stated that “we [the Barcelonan government] have had a little war with the implementation of the last superblock [in El Poblenou].” The grievances of those living in the newly-created superblock are not unfounded. One-way streets on the edges of superblocks will likely hold up buses and even emergency vehicles and inevitably alter the basic structure of the neighborhood.

However, the issues facing superblocks are largely temporary. Rueda noted that in many previous implementations of superblocks, such as in the gridded neighborhood of Eixample, the neighborhood has initially resented the change but slowly adjusted over a few years. Indeed, Rueda argued that when revisiting the neighborhoods that incorporated superblocks over a decade ago, the people are largely pleased with the change. As expected, the transportation methods and mindsets of Barcelonans will be forced to change alongside their city architecture, but the discomfort of adapting will be short-lived.

In addition, the goals of superblocks — curbing traffic and improving the environment— are far more salient than the drawbacks featured in recent complaints. Through using superblocks and other strategies, Barcelona hopes to reduce traffic by 13 percent and air pollution levels by 21 percent. This goal would have serious benefits for Barcelonans, since Barcelona’s poor air quality consistently fails to meet E.U.-mandated air quality targets and causes around 35,000 premature deaths every year. Noise pollution is yet another problem that superblocks aim to address. 61 percent of Barcelonans live at noise levels higher than the healthy range set by their own legislation, and reducing traffic would substantially decrease noise in surrounding areas.

Superblocks have wider-reaching environmental benefits as well. For example, building green spaces into cities can help curb the urban sprawl that plagues cities and countrysides across the world. Repaving roads will encourage the planting of more greenery and reduce water loss. And of course, decreasing air pollution within Barcelona will also reduce pollution in surrounding areas — an effect that will improve the quality of life of countless people across Spain.

The benefits of superblocks do not end at their environmental implications. Perhaps the most subtle, yet no less influential, outcomes of superblocks are the societal changes that they will effect. Today, Barcelona only has 6.6 square meters of green space per citizen — far lower than the World Health Organization’s recommended 9 square meters, or Amsterdam’s 87.5 square meters. Because the land within closed-off neighborhoods will be opened up for planting trees or other landscaping, superblocks will create more green space and provide more opportunities for social cohesion. Possible uses for this space include community gardens, playgrounds, or public meeting and leisure spaces, all of which will boost interpersonal and intergenerational relationships between members of the community.

Cutrufo argued that “healthy, sustainable cities are the places where people come first.” Prioritizing pedestrians over cars will spur a variety of advantageous environmental and cultural changes. Although superblocks will likely face immediate challenges concerning transportation and infrastructure rearrangement, their long-term effects will prove to be overwhelmingly beneficial.

Fast Out of the Starting Blocks

The superblocks initiative should not end at consolidating city streets, nor in Barcelona. Superblocks are proving that cities can take back their autonomy and revolutionize urban design in a way that benefits everyone living in the city. Even within the superblocks concept, cutting off vehicular access to large chunks of land foreshadows a redesigning of the transportation system to encourage public transit, bicycling, and pedestrianism. Rueda noted that a new bike network that expanded bike lanes by over 200 kilometers was recently developed in Barcelona, paving the way for the installation of more superblocks.

More ambitiously, the concept of superblocks can be viewed as just one component of a wider campaign to subsidize ‘green cities.’ Investing in infrastructure such as sustainable public transport, industrial efficiency, and waste circulation goes hand-in-hand with redesigning streets. Integrating technologies from ‘smart cities’ follows naturally. Keeping in the vein of sustainability brought forth by superblocks, Barcelona has also implemented thousands of smart-energy meters, LED streetlights, and fiber-optic cables.

Fortunately, Barcelona’s superblock framework is flexible enough to be adapted to cities across the world. Rueda proudly mentioned that in May, he will travel to Canada to advocate for building superblock-like structures in Vancouver and Ottawa; cities like Quito and Buenos Aires are also on the list. Even cities as busy and crowded as New York are contemplating the benefits of superblocks. Cutrufo stated that once an initiative has been successfully implemented in one location, it can incentivize other cities to follow suit. He noted that urban planners often think: “Humans have accomplished that. We’re no different.” In the future, more cities will inevitably follow Barcelona’s lead.

The best part? Superblocks are virtually free. After the initial infrastructural change is made — in which no more action than simply barricading streets needs to be taken — a superblock is built to grow organically, where those living in the neighborhood contribute to its particular culture. That makes superblocks a far easier solution to urban problems than other options like electrifying machinery, automated traffic surveillance, or direct air filtration — the use of a giant chimney. Cost-effective, feasible, and politically neutral, superblocks can be easily implemented to improve the quality of life of those in loud, polluted cities.

Architecture and city planning create subtle yet enormous impacts on everyday life — impacts that most people never even realize. Cutrufo asserted that “the automobile is incompatible with true urban environments,” elaborating that the increasing dominance of cars takes away from the intrinsic community and vibrancy of cities. As more people around the world move into increasingly crowded cities, these municipalities have the responsibility to prioritize their residents’ quality of life and take proactive action to redesign the urban environment. As Barcelona and other cities have shown, there is little blocking their way.

Image Credit: Flickr/shawnleishman

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