Will Barcelona’s Radical New ‘Superblock’ Strategy Slash Pollution in the City?

Barcelona has announced an ambitious plan to tackle its ever-worsening air pollution levels in the city. Having fallen afoul of EU regulations on legal limits of pollutants for several years, the local authorities have decided to take action in the form of ‘superblocks’, intended to clean up the streets and the airwaves.

By reducing traffic-flow by as much as 21%, the local government are hoping to reduce levels of harmful contaminants like carbon dioxide (CO2), particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) and nitrogen oxides (NOx), whilst simultaneously reclaiming the streets for residents to relax in.

What the plan consists of

The scheme will first be implemented in the historic district of Eixample, itself initially designed by Ildefons Cerdà in the 1800s to try and spread out the populace as much as possible, whilst still providing them with plenty of green spaces. However, the congestion and overpopulation of the neighbourhood has led to the streets being crammed with cars and the airwaves clogged with pollution.

By only allowing private vehicles on the outer perimeters of the superblock, the city hope to create self-contained neighbourhoods – smaller than a traditional neighbourhood but bigger than a traditional block. Only residents, tradesmen or service providers will be allowed in to the inner streets of the superblock and the speed limit here will be reduced to a mere 10km/h (down from 50km/h and 30km/h throughout the city currently).

This should free up almost 60% of the city’s roads for public occupation, where residents can relax and enjoy their leisure time under the Catalan sun. The idea will be supported with the installation of 300km of cycle ways (three times more than the city currently boasts) and an orthogonal bus system, in which buses only navigate main routes but reduce waiting times and increase stop locations.

What the aims are

As well as bringing back the streets to the people and cutting out a fifth of traffic, the superblocks are primarily intended to improve air quality and reduce-transport related pollution, without compromising on the transit experience for commuters.

The bus system has been designed so that “anyone will be less than 300 metres from a bus stop at any time – and average waiting times will be of five minutes anywhere in the city,” according to Salvador Rueda, the man behind the city’s urban ecology. In addition, “it would be an equitable network in which one could go from any point A to point B with just one transfer in 95% of the cases. Like in a game of Battleship.”

The plan is an ambitious one – but it could ultimately curb rising air pollution levels whilst simultaneously making the city a more pleasant one in which to live.

“We want these public spaces to be areas where one can exercise all citizen rights: exchange, expression and participation, culture and knowledge, the right to leisure,” continued Rueda. “We want to reclaim those green spaces and that can only be done through a drastic mobility change.”

The scheme could be viewed as a larger and more all-encompassing version of Swansea's traffic management plan from the early part of the 2000s. Of course, it will be implemented on a much bigger scale and hopefully achieve more substantial gains, but if it all comes off, Barcelona could shed its tag as one of the bad boys of European air quality and become an even more attractive place to reside.