Superblocks: Barcelona’s Radical Plan to Curb Automobiles

By: Michael Moran

Today, roughly 55% of the world’s population lives in a city—and that number is expected to increase to 68% by 2050.[1]  More people are moving to cities at a time when the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has cautioned that the effects of climate change will affect urban populations especially hard.[2]  This dynamic necessitates that urban areas reduce emissions and promote climate resilience while simultaneously accommodating more citizens.

            Reducing the number of privately-owned vehicles is one way that cities can accomplish this. The transportation sector is one of the biggest offenders for rises in global emissions.[3]  While electric vehicles and other renewable technologies show promise towards cutting emissions, they ultimately will not help with combatting other forms of pollution automobiles cause.  For example, electric vehicles may still contribute to water and noise pollution, collision fatalities, and increased infrastructure costs.[4]  Additionally, automobiles occupy a significant amount of physical space. Accommodating increased commuter traffic encourages municipalities to devote more of their limited real estate to parking lots and traffic lanes to service daily influxes of vehicles.[5]

            Barcelona is in the midst of its struggle with the acute effects of mass automobile ownership.  The Catalonian metropolis is one of the largest and most densely populated areas in Europe.[6]  In recent years its regional suburban population has increased in tandem with its rate of auto ownership.[7]  Besides its reputation for being one of Europe’s noisiest cities,[8] Barcelona drastically exceeds E.U. standards for average annual nitrogen dioxide concentrations in its air by 47.5%.[9]  A study conducted by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health concluded in 2017 that the city’s failure to live up to international standards for “physical activity, air pollution, noise, heat and access to green spaces” causes approximately 3,000 premature deaths each year.[10]  On top of the negative health outcomes, cars contribute to, private vehicles disproportionally occupy 60% of Barcelona’s roads despite accounting for 20% of the city’s movements each day.[11]

            Faced with these problems, Barcelona is experimenting with “superblocks”– a revolutionary urban planning solution to address Barcelona’s auto troubles.  A superblock, or superille in Catalan, is an urban design concept intended to reduce automobile traffic in urban centers.[12] Barcelona’s superblocks typically consist of a grid of nine existing city blocks.[13]  The interior of the superblock is “closed to motorized vehicles and above ground parking” and gives “preference to pedestrian traffic in the public space.”[14]  Although the interior streets are “generally reserved for pedestrians, they can be used by residential traffic, services, emergency vehicles, and loading/unloading vehicles under special circumstances.”[15]  The speed limit for vehicles operating within the superblock is reduced to ten kilometers/hours.[16]  The traffic the interior streets formerly served is diverted around the superblock’s perimeter.[17]  Barcelona’s plan also encompasses connecting these blocks through changes to the city’s public transit network that encourage biking, walkability, and reliable access to public transportation.[18]

            Admittedly, Barcelona’s plan is incredibly ambitious.  The city ultimately hopes to have 500 superblocks on top of those already existing and have 70% of its streets eventually devoted to mixed-use.[19]  Planners hope that superblocks will serve to accommodate greater population density, encourage less private automobile traffic, and help foster social and economic bonds within the blocks and the city at large.[20]  Salvador Rueda, the founder and director of the Urban Ecology Agency of Barcelona, believes that superblocks have “the potential to free up 7 million square meters (2.7 square miles), and would transform the city into the world’s most important urban recycling project—transforming roads into parks, playgrounds, and other public space—without demolishing a single house.”[21]

The city has encountered some resistance to implementing superblocks, however.[22]  Two major challenges that superblock plans will need to confront going forward are accommodating excess traffic and combatting the gentrification of traditional neighborhoods.[23]  Despite these challenges, Barcelona is well-positioned to radically transform its city with the superblock concept as one of its cornerstones.  The city was originally planned on a grid system and much of its infrastructure was built before the invention of cars.[24]  The city also has a strong tradition of urban renewal and significant political will behind implementing its plans.[25]

            With Barcelona experiencing early successes in implementing its superblock plans,[26] it begs the question—would something like this ever be viable in the United States?  Although there are some movements toward adopting mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly planning in the United States,[27] many American car-minimizing projects are reserved in wealthy areas near already existing businesses.  Another reason is that in most cases, local zoning ordinances require commercial areas to be separated from residential. [28] This separation often requires using a vehicle to drive from your residence to wherever you want to shop, eat, or play.  On top of that, many cities have ordinances mandating minimum levels of parking availability (which push buildings further from each other and encourage cars), and minimum street widths (which result in wide, unwalkable streets).[29]

            Cars are a dominant presence in many communities.  With urban population and climate pressures projected to increase, this reality may become unacceptable for those living in large metropolitan areas.  Land use regulations can play an outsized role in encouraging or discouraging certain behaviors.  Currently, many municipalities’ land use regulations organize a movement around their cities where the car is the king.  Paired with well-planned infrastructure and transportation systems, however, Barcelona’s superblocks serve as a creative model for how cities can prioritize public health and reclaim some of the space it has reserved for parking and sitting in traffic in the future.

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[1] U.N. Dep’t of Econ. & Soc. Affairs, 2018 Revision of World Urbanization Projects (2018), https://www.un.org/development/desa/publications/2018-revision-of-world-urbanization-prospects.html.

[2] Aromar Revi et al., Urban Areas in Climate Change 2014: Impacts Adaptations and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 535-612 (2014).

[3] EPA, Fast Facts on Transportation Greenhouse Gas Emissions (June 2019), https://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/fast-facts-transportation-greenhouse-gas-emissions.

[4] David Roberts, Cars Dominate Cities Today. Barcelona has Set Out to Change That, Vox (Sept. 11, 2019) https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/4/8/18273893/barcelona-spain-urban-planning-cars.

[5] Id.

[6] Barcelona has an estimated population of 1.7 million and a density of 16,000 people per square kilometer. World Population Review, Barcelona Population 2019 (May 12, 2019), http://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/barcelona-population/.

[7] Roberts, supra note 4.

[8] Noise Pollution: These are the 50 Noisiest and Most Silent Cities, Knops (Dec. 18, 2017), https://knops.co/magazine/noise-pollution-50-noisiest-cities/. This estimate was based on data from the World Hearing Index created by Mimi, a digital hearing app. Id.

[9] Esther Sánchez & Elena G. Sevillano, 15 million Spaniards are Breathing Air the E.U. Considers Polluted, El País (Dec. 7, 2018), https://elpais.com/elpais/2018/12/05/inenglish/1544008632_514634.html. NO2 is a carcinogenic pollutant that is a byproduct of combustion at high temperatures and is typically associated with traffic. Id. The E.U. “stipulates that the annual average of NO2 should not exceed 40 micrograms per cubic meter.” Id. In Barcelona, the annual average concentration of NO2 in the air what was 59 micrograms. Id.

[10] Roberts, supra note 4.

[11] Marta Bausells, Superblocks to the Rescue: Barcelona’s Plan to Give Streets Back to Residents, The Guardian (May 17, 2016), https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/may/17/superblocks-rescue-barcelona-spain-plan-give-streets-back-residents.

[12] Id.

[13] Id.

[14] Agéncia d’Ecologia Urbana de Barcelona, Superblocks, (2012), http://www.bcnecologia.net/en/conceptual-model/superblocks.

[15] Id.

[16] Bausells, supra note 7.

[17] Superblocks, supra note 14.

[18] See David Roberts, Barcelona is Pushing Out Cars and Putting in Superblocks. Here are the 2 Biggest Challenges Ahead, Vox (April 10, 2019), https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/4/10/18273895/traffic-barcelona-superblocks-gentrification.

[19] Roberts, supra note 4.

[20] Id.

[21] Salvador Rueda, The Power of the Superblock in Barcelona, Medium (Oct. 23, 2018), https://medium.com/vision-zero-cities-journal/the-power-of-the-superblock-in-barcelona-5ef2e64d377a.

[22] See David Roberts, Barcelona Wants to Build 500 Superblocks. Here’s What it Learned from the First Ones, Vox (April 9, 2019), https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/4/9/18273894/barcelona-urban-planning-superblocks-poblenou.

[23] See id.

[24] See generally David Roberts, Barcelona’s Remarkable History of Rebirth and Transformation, Vox (April 8, 2019), https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2019/4/8/18266760/barcelona-spain-urban-planning-history.

[25] See id. See also Kai Klause, Barcelona Superblocks: How Power and Politics Shape Transformational Adaption, Barcelona Laboratory for Urban Environmental Justice and Sustainability, (April 6, 2018), http://www.bcnuej.org/2018/04/06/barcelona-superblocks-how-socio-political-power-struggles-shape-transformational-adaption/.

[26] See Angie Schmitt, Seattle May Try to Replicate Barcelona’s ‘Superblocks’, StreetsBlogUSA, (Sept. 6, 2019), https://usa.streetsblog.org/2019/09/06/seattle-may-try-to-replicate-barcelonas-superblocks/; Robin Runyan, Car-Free in the Motor City: The Challenges of Using Public Transit in Detroit, Curbed (Sept. 18, 2017), https://detroit.curbed.com/2017/9/18/16320184/car-free-detroit-bike-public-transportation; Jon Murray, “Denveright” Plans Chart Out New Director for Rapidly Expanding Denver’s Transit, Parks over Two Decades, The Denver Post (Aug. 6, 2018), https://www.denverpost.com/2018/08/06/denveright-denver-plans-parks-development-transit-trails/.

[27] Vox, Superblocks: How Barcelona is Taking City Streets Back from Cars, Youtube (Sept. 27, 2016), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZORzsubQA_M.

[28] Jay Kozlarz, Study: Chicago is Over-Building its Residential Parking, Curbed (Mar. 28, 2019), https://chicago.curbed.com/2016/3/28/11317888/chicago-apartment-parking-glut.

[29] Id.