Putting People at the Centre — Literally
Barcelona has a bold plan to remove cars from the streets, and it goes beyond Superblocks
As I turn right on Carrer Tanger, the noise of the traffic fades. I start to hear guitars playing in the distance. I want to see. I walk faster and faster in the middle of the road, the sound builds up to a song. Voices sing in Spanish, the rhythm tastes like Mexico. When I step into the square I see a circle of 20 women. Two of them stand in the middle over a wooden board, keeping the rhythm with their heels, the sound amplified by the wood. My heart jumps when they do. All the others have a guitar and sing at unisone. The chords drag me to the group and I’m suddenly inside of it, dancing, the music so loud and their smiles so wide — the city disappears.
What I witnessed that night on Carrer Tanger is becoming a common sight in Barcelona. Carrer Tanger used to be a heavily trafficked street leading to the nearby business district. This is what it looks like now:
The street has been “pacified”, as they say in Barcelona. Only residents are allowed to drive here, and the speed limit is 10 km/h.
It’s what in The Netherlands would be called a “woonerf street”. Access to cars is denied or limited. Sidewalks are levelled. With no separation between means of transport, the street becomes a shared space.
What would you do if the street in front of your house was closed off to cars?
Exactly, you would use it. People tend to take over space. Thus, on Carrer Tanger, kids play soccer on the street. Market stalls pop up here and there. And a group of Mexican musicians might decide to gather and sing in the middle of the square.
Superblock?
Take 9 blocks on a 3x3 grid. Close off to cars all the inner streets. Divert all traffic on the outer streets. That’s a superblock.
What happens is that all inner streets become “pacified”. You create an island of walking space, green and quietness without claiming extra land.
When architect Salvador Rueda first proposed the concept of superblocks in 1987, he called them “super-manzanas”. Manzana = apple in spanish.
The reference was to the shape of Barcelona’s blocks. They are not quite squares, like most blocks in grid-laid cities such as New York or San Francisco. Barcelona’s blocks look more like octagons. the edges are smoothed. This creates more space between them, and increases road safety.
When you take 9 manzanas and force the traffic out on the perimeter, you get a supermanzana.
Today, superblocks have become a buzz word for urbanists all over the planet. The United Nations recently recognised them as an effective climate solution.
They were born in Barcelona for a very specific reason.
Blocks, before Superblocks
In the second half of the 19th century, Barcelona’s city centre was overcrowded.
The municipality asked several architects to plan the construction of a new district to accommodate Barcelona’s demographic growth.
Among them was Ildefons Cerdà, an unknown architect and engineer who would revolutionise urban planning forever.
The high death rates, as well as the inadequate air circulation and health conditions in the mediaeval city centre encouraged Cerdà to re-think the way we plan cities.
Cerdà studied the volume of fresh air needed for every resident, calculated the orientation of the streets so as to give the buildings as much sunlight as possible, and prioritised space between buildings to increase safety.
In doing so, he coined the term “urbanisation,” which did not exist at the time, and formalised it in his General Theory of Urbanisation in 1867.
The result was the Eixample district (“expansion” in Catalan),
As with every revolutionary idea, there was friction. Cerda’s plan was discarded many times before finally being approved in 1860.
Today, Cerda’s blocks (or manzanas) are the key feature of Barcelona’s unique city centre, and the Eixample has become an example for the many grid layouts that we see in cities all over the world.
What Cerda couldn’t predict was the enormous amount of cars that would take over the streets.
Barcelona’s population has increased three-fold in the last century (1.7 million now). But all cities grow, so what’s the problem?
The Mediterranean Sea on one side, the Collserola Hills on the other. Barcelona is enclosed. There’s no space for growing.
These topographical constraints have led Barcelona to become one of the most densely populated cities in Europe, with 16.000 people per square km.
This is 5 times higher than Amsterdam, 4 times higher than Berlin.
As a result, until the 1990s, Barceloners lived in one of the noisiest, most polluted and trafficked metropolises in Europe.
High population density has many downsides, especially when coupled with a lack of green spaces. Cerda’s plan did not include space for parks, but planned to have green courtyards inside every block.
However, 90% of the courtyards in the city centre got taken up by stores.
According to WHO standards, there should be at least 10 sqm of green spaces per person. Barcelona as a whole has 6.6. The neighbourhood of the Eixample stops at 2, including non-proximity green spaces.
How do you reduce traffic and create more green spaces in a city that doesn’t have space?
Superblocks! Barcelona’s grid layout perfectly lends itself to Rueda’s plan.
The first experiments were run in the district of Gracia through tactical urbanism. Then, the first real superblock, installed in Poblenou.
As of now, only a handful of superblocks are built across the city, but the plan is to introduce 503 of them.
In 2017, a superblock was implemented in the neighbourhood of Sant Antoni.
Did anything change? What were the benefits? What does the data say?
Before-and-after measures quality of life in Sant Antoni show the effect that the superblock had just 2 years after implementation.
- Air Quality
Sant Antoni saw levels of NO2 reduced by 33% just one year after the implementation of the superblock.
- Quietness
55% of the population lives in an environment where the average daylight noise level is above 70 db, with the recommended WHO safety level at 65 db. Noise pollution has been linked with several risks such as detriment of mental health and hearing loss. Noisy streets are not used as much by pedestrians. One year after the superblock, noise had reduced by 4 db.
- Traffic reduction.
Significant reduction in vehicle usage (-92%). No substantial improvement in traffic in neighbourhing streets (+3%). The technical term is that the cars evaporated. People chose not to use them as often.
A step towards the 15-minute city
One of the key aspects of the superblocks model is proximity.
Living in the vicinity of the workplace and other services has been linked with less car usage, higher physical activity, and more community feeling.
In particular, proximity green spaces are essential to encourage people to spend more time outdoors. This helps them create more social ties and stay more active.
The plan of the office for Urban Ecology of the municipality of Barcelona is that every resident should live within 200 metres from a square or park.
With the introduction of superblocks, steets and squares can be turned into what the office calls “green axes”.
The goal is to implement 21 new green axes by 2024.
Superblocks beyond superblocks: Superilla Barcelona
The superblock is now not merely a space. It has become an approach.
Adopting the superblock approach means putting people at the centre, literally.
The good news is that you can do that even without resorting to superblocks.
Take the example of Avinguda Meridiana. The Meridiana is one of the three major avenues connecting Barcelona’s city centre to the outskirts.
It’s a massive (and noisy and unsafe) 6 lane urban highway.
If you can’t have a superblock here, at least you can apply its principles.
This is how Superilla Barcelona (the office leading Barcelona’s urban revolution) envisions the future of the Meridiana.
A small “rambla” (a walkable path) in the centre. Two car lanes on each side. Bicycle lanes. Very wide and street-level sidewalks.
The street becomes suddenly livable, with all the benefits of noise reduction, improved air quality and safety mentioned above.
It’s a superblock in another shape.
The same approach has been applied to the planning of the new Glories park.
Glories, once one of the busiest and most dangerous intersections in Barcelona, will become the city’s second largest park.
The cars, this time, will go underground.
Since the project will take so long (10 years), it will be built in phases. Now there is a smaller park, already functioning, that will be part of the bigger green area once the constructions are completed.
The developments of Avinguda Meridiana and Glories Park show that the concept of superblock is not limited to a grid-layout city. It can be applied anywhere.
At its core, it’s all about putting people at the centre of the street. It’s about turning car lanes into usable, truly public space.
Bonus. See for yourself: Barcelona’s office for Urban Ecology is going the extra mile to offer transparency on all current and future projects. You can check out an extensive gallery of superblocks and other interventions at https://www.barcelona.cat/pla-superilla-barcelona/en
You can start from this short but comprehensive video:
