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Superblocks – Urban design for communities


車輛禁行區─社區城市設計




The most noticeable benefit of a superblock in the city is the public space it creates


It’s a regular Monday morning when residents from the Poblenou neighborhood in Barcelona leave their homes and start a new workweek. The previously vehicle-occupied streets are empty and it’s a small walk to the nearest bus stop. This is “superblock” city living, an experiment to return the streets to communities.

The designer of the superblocks idea was Salvador Rueda, director of the Urban Ecology Agency of Barcelona. It’s an audacious urban project that aims to reclaim the city’s streets from motor vehicles and render them back to residents.

To put it simply, a superblock comprises nine residential blocks. Inside, the traffic is exclusive to local residents and is a one-way system with a 10 kph speed limit. Residents can still access their garages but no through traffic within the blocks is permitted.

As the traffic drastically decreases in the superblocks, the newly-liberated public space becomes a venue for assorted cultural and community activities, as well as children’s playgrounds, urban farms and open theaters – the creativity of the residents becomes the only limitation on the roads.

Invaluable benefits

The most noticeable benefit of a superblock in the city is the public space it creates: “The main goal is: make cities,” Rueda says. “A city starts to be a city when you have public spaces.”

Within the superblocks there is less noise from motor vehicles and the air is fresher. Most importantly, neighbors have places to mingle and get to know each other better.

“When we came here, it was like a ghost town, there was no life. Suddenly (after the superblocks), you meet your neighbors, you can have dinner outside, kids playing in the street. We love it,” says Silvia Casorran, an environmental scientist and Poblenou resident. “The people start to think about how to defend it in the long run.”

Besides these advantages, the project also lowers car accident rates and increases mobility since it guarantees more rectilinear walking paths and saves waiting times at traffic lights. The average time savings for a 3x3 structure is up to 15 percent.

A success for superblocks

Various factors contribute to the success of superblocks. To start with the iconic Eixample district of Barcelona has a grid-pattern street design and is the perfect location for the superblocks experiment. Also playing a vital role are the city’s redesigned public transportation options and incentives for cycling.

When further superblocks are established around the city, more bus routes are bound to be modified. The future network runs fewer routes than the radial network it replaces, but the frequency increases, ensuring a reliable 2-minute wait at any stop.

The new scheme of orthogonal bus routes is not only easier to understand, frequent pauses every three blocks also facilitate travel and ensure one transfer is enough for all.

In addition, granting broader access to public bicycle services and transportation is indispensable, especially intercity options or those that circulate in steep areas. These changes make medium- or long-distance travel possible, and even more sustainable.

What to do on the streets

Arguments have, however, dogged the Poblenou experiment. Some residents living at the periphery of the superblocks are confused about the modified traffic signs and frustrated about the disappearance of familiar bus routes.

The transition period between more citizens willing to give up their motor vehicles and gentrification, or rising house prices within the superblocks, also require the acumen of local city planners.

“It’s a slower rhythm of life, it’s a process to rediscover your area and your neighbors,” said Carles Pena, a member of the Poblenou neighborhood association.

Typically, the residents of Poblenou did not ask for public space until they had it. In the beginning, they were shy about using these spaces, but that changed when picnic tables were placed in the areas. That was the moment when people sat down and talked, the moment they really began to own their neighborhoods.

Stopping cars or changing traffic signs is relatively easy to do but establishing more permanent establishments like art places and amenities, or encouraging people to take part in street activities is a slow process.

“It’s about spontaneity and self-organization, empathy and relationships between people,” says Rueda. “You cannot plan that, but you need to create the space.”
 
Chirs Chang, Taiwan News, Contributing Writer  
2019-07-21  

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