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Superblocks: how Barcelona is taking city streets back from cars

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Re: Superblocks: how Barcelona is taking city streets back from cars

#31

Post by upofadown »

drcross wrote: post #17

The elephant in the room is that personal mobility is going to undergo a complete redesign in the coming decade as vehicles drive for themselves. This will bring about a complete change in usage patterns so doing anything in this space is pre-mature and we should hold off to see how society's requirements change. For example maybe on street parking will become a thing of the past as your self driving Uber goes on it'…

Self driving cars are still cars. The only thing self driving cars might change is parking. The ability to have cars circulating around with no one in them might actually make things worse.

Re: Superblocks: how Barcelona is taking city streets back from cars

#32

Post by 13of40 »

Artlav wrote: post #12

Hm, i find this kinda hard to port over to a typical chaotic/radial european city. In Moscow, for example, there are wide radial and circular roads, from which branches of small roads diffuse into the meat of the city under pretty much every angle. Any attempts to rope "superblocks" off would likely collapse the traffic completely - there aren't any alternative roads like a grid would have.

Having spent time in both cities, I don't think the residential urban areas of Moscow have the same problem as Barcelona does. If you look closely between all of those Brezhnev era apartment blocks, you'll find that the soviets packed them with green space, playgrounds, etc. If anything, Moscow is short on parking lots. (edit: Not advocating tearing up the playgrounds for parking lots.)

Re: Superblocks: how Barcelona is taking city streets back from cars

#33

Post by enjoylife »

I just came back from an extended trip in Barcelona, and I saw first hand how there is plenty of wasted space in neighborhoods.

Many intersections between dense housing areas are overly large hexagons where you must annoyingly walk around dedicated parking spaces to cross streets. https://www.flickr.com/photos/16nine/22802717995

Hopefully the city will have buy-in from the residents, as this plan seems to also modify the bus routes. And from what I saw, the locals have ingrained those stops in their daily routines, which might cause some backlash when those drastically change.

Re: Superblocks: how Barcelona is taking city streets back from cars

#34

Post by jowiar »

Worth noting regarding Barcelona is that this is, to a great extent, retrofitting a concept that already exists within the city to "new" parts. In Ciutat Vella, there are a few "outer" thoroughfares, with the inner streets shared between cars and pedestrians. They are, however, narrow to the point where they are not really navigable by anything larger than a Smart Car moving at rolling speed, and it's very clear that cars are second-class citizens. Thus, this isn't really introducing a new "social order" as if this were to be done anywhere in the US.

Re: Superblocks: how Barcelona is taking city streets back from cars

#35

Post by ansible »

Retric wrote: post #27
pmontra wrote: post #2

Great idea! The only puzzling point is the 10 km/h limit. In my experience it's almost impossible to go that slow. Better to set the limit at 20 km/h and cope with the conditions of the road. It will be slow for bicycles too. It forces bikers to go on the roads for cars or be very patient. Maybe it's the intended effect but I don't approve it.

IMO, they are better off with raised or lowered pedestrian walkways vs removing streets, but this is more about aesthetics than practicality. As to bikes, they should be on the road anyway.

That's very expensive, and highly disrupts the walkability of the area.

Re: Superblocks: how Barcelona is taking city streets back from cars

#36

Post by njharman »

Even before the superblock idea, that first picture of existing Barcelona blocks looks so massively better than anything I've seen in USA. I looked hard, twice, before reading article cause I was sure it was is was artist rendering rather than reality.

So, uniform, dense, but no sky scrapers, corners cut off, wide wide streets, wide sidewalks, interior (to block) "courtyards".

I want to move to Barcelona!

Re: Superblocks: how Barcelona is taking city streets back from cars

#39

Post by jacquesm »

njharman wrote: post #36

Even before the superblock idea, that first picture of existing Barcelona blocks looks so massively better than anything I've seen in USA. I looked hard, twice, before reading article cause I was sure it was is was artist rendering rather than reality. So, uniform, dense, but no sky scrapers, corners cut off, wide wide streets, wide sidewalks, interior (to block) "courtyards". I want to move to Barcelona!

It's one of the nicest cities in Europe but the Spanish economy is still so far down that many Spanish people with marketable skills are to be found all over Europe.

Re: Superblocks: how Barcelona is taking city streets back from cars

#40

Post by Retric »

ansible wrote: post #35
Retric wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO, they are better off with raised or lowered pedestrian walkways vs removing streets, but this is more about aesthetics than practicality. As to bikes, they should be on the road anyway.

That's very expensive, and highly disrupts the walkability of the area.

It's a network effect, if you abandon street level for a wide area it can work really well. Considering the cost and impact of this change it's worth considering for other city's less focused on tourists.
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