Archinect - News

Los Angeles approves car-free 'superblock' pilot program

2023-06-26T17:57:00-04:00

The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday on a motion to identify a location to implement its first Park Block -- modeled after the city of Barcelona’s Superblocks, a block grid system that restricts traffic to major roads and opens up city blocks and streets to pedestrians.

The “Park Block” motion was initially introduced by Los Angeles District Councilmember Kevin de León last year. The program aims to save lives lost due to poor air quality and traffic violence. As detailed in a report by LA City Council’s Transportation Committee, the Blocks will serve to form open public space with adequate shade, outdoor recreation, greening, and stormwater capture in communities that lack parks.

Previously on Archinect: LA Councilmember introduces plan to establish Barcelona's car-free 'superblocks' in Los Angeles

The program will first be implemented in León’s District 14, which includes parts of downtown Los Angeles, Boyle Heights, and Eagle Rock. LA's Department of Transportation will choose which area will host the initial pilot, with priority given to communities that have the least access to public space, the highest health disparities, and high population densities. In addition, the Department will report back on what funding and resources are necessary to...

LA Councilmember introduces plan to establish Barcelona's car-free 'superblocks' in Los Angeles

2022-08-15T18:23:00-04:00

Los Angeles District Councilmember Kevin de León recently introduced a motion proposing a program titled "Park Blocks," modeled after Barcelona’s Superblock initiative, which would establish usable public space for pedestrians and cyclists by closing certain streets to motorized vehicles.

Barcelona’s approach reconfigured vehicle circulation in its Eixample district, allowing for up to 70% of the street surface area to be used as public space. As noted in the motion, this move resulted in major drops in noise and air pollution and increased civic life for residents inside the blocks.

Previously on Archinect: Barcelona's bold new plan to get cars off the road

De León envisions "Park Blocks" as a means to save lives due to poor air quality and traffic violence as well as creating green and recreational spaces in communities lacking parks. They would reportedly also provide other benefits, such as establishing stormwater capture infrastructure.

"A successful program needs to be thoug...

Barcelona to create car-free "superblocks"

2020-11-18T12:55:00-05:00

At a press conference Wednesday, Mayor Ada Colau announced that 21 streets in Barcelona’s Eixample district will become a kind of super-superblock — vehicle traffic will only be permitted around the perimeter, leaving streets within the district only accessible by motor vehicle to residents, essential services or deliveries. By all-but-barring cars, Barcelona will free up space for 21 new pedestrian plazas at intersections.

According to Bloomberg CityLab, the squares and streets that will be come the future superblocks will be planted with trees that will shade 16 acres of new green space when mature. The area will also contain an additional 33.4 hectares of pedestrian space. Work will begin in 2022 with a the project running on a projected budget of $45 million, making it "one of the most thorough revamps of a major European city so far this century," Bloomberg CityLab reports.

Section cut of pedestrian space condition with planted trees.

Seattle eyes its first Barcelona-inspired "superblock"

2019-09-03T13:00:00-04:00

After an extensive renovation, the art nouveau market anchoring the neighborhood returned to its original 19th-century splendor last year. In the area around it, parking was moved underground, newly planted trees and shrubs dot the streets and public plazas, children romp in new play areas, and bicyclists and pedestrians now have ample space to move around freely. In short, public space has increased by thousands of square meters — all because car traffic was deprioritized.

In an effort to improve safety conditions for the city's pedestrians and cyclists, Seattle in considering implementing a series of traffic calming measures along a six-block section its Capitol Hill neighborhood that would create the city's first "superblock" configuration.

The move comes as the number of pedestrian fatalities skyrockets in American cities, and as municipalities continue to struggle to implement successful Vision Zero-related road design improvements.

Barcelona's bold new plan to get cars off the road

2016-05-18T13:09:00-04:00

In the latest attempt from a big city to move away from car hegemony, Barcelona has ambitious plans. Currently faced with excessive pollution and noise levels, the city has come up with a new mobility plan to reduce traffic by 21%. And it comes with something extra: freeing up nearly 60% of streets currently used by cars to turn them into so-called “citizen spaces”.

"The plan is based around the idea of superilles (superblocks) – mini neighbourhoods around which traffic will flow, and in which spaces will be repurposed to “fill our city with life”, as its tagline says."

A precedent for Barcelona's superblocks was actually instituted in the city back in the late 19th century when Ildefons Cerdà planned Eixample, a district intended to free up the crowded medieval neighborhoods of the old city. With their famous beveled corners, Cerdà's large residential blocks were intended to serve as lungs for the city, with interior courtyards to provide greenery on a regular and frequent basis.

But urban development laid waste to Cerdà's carefully-laid plans. Today, the city loses about 3,500 citizens each year to air pollution.

The bold new plan comprises a series of interventions to create "superblocks" from nine of Cerdà's smaller blocks. The initiative starts with restricting vehicular traffic to primarily the perimeter streets.

City officials hope that by i...