Barcelona’s Car-Free Superblocks Explained

this is barcelona home to sandy beaches stunning architecture and one of europe's most radical plans to transform the streets today the city is facing the same problems as many others roads jam-packed with traffic crowded pavements noise air pollution and of course climate change in an effort to sort it all out the city's iconic square blocks are now getting a 21st century makeover enter the superblock the idea is a pretty simple one re-route cars away from a given area and make space on the streets for people cyclists and greenery but we're not talking just a few blocks with more than 500 superblocks now proposed barcelona wants to transform the entire city into a sort of green utopia where every resident lives within walking distance of shops entertainment and green space that's no small task for the city with the highest vehicle density in europe but if it works this new model could reshape cities around the world to understand where barcelona's going with all this you need to get your head around where it's come from urban planning has long been at the heart of this city from the romans to the olympic games construction here has always formed part of a bigger vision but perhaps the most enduring overhaul of its design came from this guy ildefons serda he's a pretty big deal in the history of urban planning in the 1850s barcelona was plagued by dirty water sewage overcrowding riots and cholera outbreaks at the same time medieval walls around the city were coming down and sada hatched a radical plan for expansion with the physical restrictions around the city gone it nearly quadrupled in size with a grid that linked the existing urban area with seven surrounding villages creating the district now known as a shumpler within the rigid grid rows and rows of nearly identical blocks were constructed around octagonal intersections each was originally planned to contain a mix of shops upper and lower class housing and a central garden it was a pretty bold idea at the time and one that wasn't particularly well received even though cars weren't invented yet the roads were designed with 45 degree corners so the drivers of horse-drawn carts and trams could navigate the streets more easily fast forward to today and it turns out that design is pretty useful for cars too while sardar's utopian vision wasn't built exactly how he imagined one core principle stuck mixed-use development that's the idea that shops housings schools and parks can all exist in the same space you create a city of many communities it's pretty common in many european cities today but some places in america generally have separate areas for retail offices parks and housing and getting between them all normally means a car journey that's all to say barcelona has a bit of a head start when it comes to constructing a more walkable city its so-called super blocks or super res in catalan have been talked about for decades but they were officially introduced as a government-funded project back in 2013. the city picked a few neighborhoods began taking space away from cars and instead prioritized pedestrians and cyclists the idea is that streets become more than just a space where vehicles drive they become somewhere where people can walk cycle and relax too in a city with just over 10 percent of its space dedicated to parks and gardens you've got to make space where you can find it and barcelona already has some of the worst air quality in europe less vehicles on the road means less pollution now cars aren't completely banned from superblocks certain vehicles can use the roads to do things like access residences make deliveries and provide public transit and emergency services of course get priority but the blocks operate a one-way system with a speed limit of 10 kilometers per hour studies of the first trials from back in 2014 found that pedestrian trips went up by 10 and cycling by 30 percent the goal is to have roughly 80 of all journeys by foot bike or public transport come 2024. so far these blocks have been relatively sporadic across the city with just a few areas serving as sort of test cases but starting in the summer of 2022 the city plans to use 45 million dollars to transform a third of the streets in ice champlain the same part of barcelona that was originally designed by sadar here's how it'll work the original super blocks in 2016 took over nine city blocks around 400 by 400 meters in size through traffic was rerouted along the perimeters and any necessary car traffic was limited to one narrow lane with pedestrians having the right of way the latest plan is to create a sort of super super block spanning 21 streets with 21 new pedestrian plazas at specific intersections that'll create more than 35 hectares of pedestrian space and some six hectares of new green space but since this isn't a simple 9x9 square rerouting traffic is going to be a lot more complicated to navigate that the city can use digital tools like geospatial data to model existing traffic patterns and air quality before starting construction once work starts there are a few main things to do first is to even out the kerbs on the road and make the streets accessible the existing asphalts will be removed and replaced with traditional panels paving stones and granite alternatives in its place the new surface is designed to be permeable and will have a system to collect and reuse rainwater finally benches tables and chairs play areas water fountains and trees are going to be added to encourage people to spend more time outside now this isn't a magic bullet barcelona has a lot of things that make building super blocks here easier than elsewhere but it's not perfect this idea alone isn't enough to eliminate the need for cars there are roughly 800 000 people who commute into the city to work and a lot of them drive to complicate things further not all locals think the super blocks are so super in poplar new residents protested against their own new block in 2017 saying it forced them to take long and convoluted routes to get home but proponents of the project say that's sort of the point to make options like walking and cycling more convenient than driving of course there's always the risk that by making an area more desirable real estate prices will go up and some of the current residents might be priced out or it'll be transformed to prioritize retail shops for tourists to combat that city officials will need to implement housing policy that protects locals alongside the construction upgrades despite the challenges barcelona's plan is a bold shift in how we use our urban spaces and a reminder that it doesn't always take a multi-billion dollar mega project for construction to have a huge impact on our lives if the city's vision proves successful then what's happening here today might serve as a whole new model for the cities of tomorrow if you enjoyed this video and you want to learn more about where construction is headed make sure 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Channel: Tomorrow's Build

Views: 755,386

Keywords: construction, architecture, engineering, Tomorrow's Build, tomorrowsbuild, TomorrowsBuild, tomorrows build, B1M, The B1M, Fred Mills, building, future, barcelona, spain, catalonia, urban planning, ildefons cerda, superblock, superilles, superilla, green streets, urban green, pedestrian, cycling, 15 minute city, europe

Id: 9kmIUjHL0zs

Length: 7min 29sec (449 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 21 2022