Session 7 / London Live Program: Superblocks: Recycling the Grid

Josep Bohigas
CEO
Barcelona Regional, Barcelona

The Superblock is a new model of mobility that restructures the typical urban road network. With its implementation, Superblocks provide solutions to the main issues of urban mobility and improves both the availability and quality of the public space for pedestrian traffic. In order to achieve these goals for mobility, two fundamental changes must be made: modification to the basic road network and the establishment of differentiated routes for each mode of transport.

Superblocks are made up of a grid of basic roads forming a polygon, some 400 by 400 meters, with both interior and exterior components. The interior (intervía) is closed to motorized vehicles and above ground parking, and gives preference to pedestrian traffic in the public space. Though the inner streets are generally reserved for pedestrians, they can be used by residential traffic, services, emergency vehicles, and loading/unloading vehicles under special circumstances. The perimeter, or exterior, of Superblocks is where motorized traffic circulates, and makes up the basic roads.

The Superblock is emerging as an integral solution to the use of public space, uniting urban planning with mobility, and limiting the presence of private vehicles in order to return the public space to the citizen. The importance of the citizen, or the simple pedestrian, gives meaning to the revolutionary structure of the superblock: each grid section has universal accessibility, there is increased safety due to a 10 km/hr speed limit, and there is the potential to increase the habitability and comfort of citizens in public spaces.