Superblocks are created by simply making some streets one-way to discourage through traffic, wile also lowering the speed limit enough to make cyclists and pedestrians feel safe and comfortable sharing the streets with cars. Superblocks are fairly easy and inexpensive to create. They've reportedly decreased car traffic as much as 60%, while making most citizens feel better about their own communities.

What do you think?

Superblocks: how Barcelona is taking city streets back from cars - Vox

This item appeared in the (dreaded) A&S forum. It's got potential, but before one concludes that it is the be-all, end-all, consider that Lubbock, TX is set up this way and has been for many decades. Of course Lubbock being Lubbock, there are almost no cyclists. (When I left town, I think I took most of the bikes in Lubbock County with me.)

The things that would need to work in order to actually get people riding bikes (transit is another story and walking distances are usually short enough that this won't apply) is to have real functional ways across those ravines that are the major roads that surround the super-block enclosure. If it takes forever to get across or if the crossing is a pain, then anything that takes someone out of their super-block puts them in a car.

It's workable, but it does need to be worked.

That's a good point about the need for making the through streets negotiable for bikes and pedestrians. Even though the goal of superblocks is to make people more satisfied with their own neighborhood, they will still need to or want to go to other parts of the city sometimes.

Could you explain more about how Lubbock is like this superblock design? In what ways is it like this? How did Lubbock happen to implement a non-carcentric street system? That is almost unheard of in the USA, or really, anywhere!

There are lot of 1 way streets downtown in my city.. but they are all extremely unsafe for cyclists.
The city has made a bike lane, but unfortunately bike lanes seem to peter out leaving the cyclist stranded in ridiculous high traffic and extremely busy areas. I DREAM of a more bike friendly city!

Looks like a great idea. Lubbock seems to have a 1 mile grid of highways with the inner streets having normal 30mph speed limits. I didn't see any resemblance to what they are planning in Barcelona.

Barcelona already appears to have decent segregated bike lanes on the major roads so getting around the superblocks should be straightforward.

The idea that cars have to drive around a certain area to get access to that area isn't new. The new thing or at least the good thing about it is that it adresses the transition problem. It allows for a small scale start that can spread out, and it will have the effect that people can experience the effect of mass cycling in a small area. It's not hard to sell the idea of cycling infrastructure to cyclists, but other people will probably have to experience themselves how much nicer it makes a city before they get on board.

It also allows for relatively autonomous development, as lots of car drivers no longer see the point in taking the car and people who try biking find it pleasant, the main roads between the 9 block blocks will get busier with cyclists while less cars get in their way.

So it adresses the 2 main problems, the transition and selling the idea to others than cyclists. Also a lot of Western cities were designed or (partly) redesigned in the 2nd half of the 19th century fashion with a regular pattern of blocks and mostly perpendicular roads. This is really an idea that could be sold to city councils and citizens and gain momentum.

Wow!

The carfree life is spreading and I don't see any way it's going to stop. This is going to be luxury construction so it won't be cheap to live there. The days of inexpensive housing projects for the poor are over and high rise condos for the rich and upper middle class are the future of cities.

Forum members are wondering where does the bicycle fit in? It wouldn't surprise if it doesn't because many of those living in these expensive apartments don't ride and are motorist. However, the option will remain for those who want to be carfree.

Funny how it's Barcelona who is paving the way to Superblocks. I created a thread years ago on a Barcelona tram ride in 1908 and how beautiful it looked without cars. Who knows. Maybe one day Barcelona will be carfree just as it was in the past!

I just watched it again. Look at all those bicycles on the street and how safe it was. That was real living. Beautiful.

Every eighth block east/west and every sixteen blocks north/south is a major street. The enclosed area is a square owing to the individual blocks being rectangles. There are generally no ways to drive through the large square, but one can walk or ride with ease until you meet up with the large street edge. One additional feature is that each block has an alleyway that is used for such things as garbage collection, so the streets are even clear of those beastly garbage trucks.

It differs in that the superblocks in Lubbock don't contain commercial enterprises, just housing. The net result is that there is never much car traffic inside the big squares, since motorists have to enter very near their destination. However, the lack of amenities means that one must venture out to the major streets to get any goods. In spite of the fact that in practice it isn't very difficult to cross those big roads, very few people even try. They simply default to using their Suburbans (more of those per capita in Lubbock than any other place on Earth).

Yeah, one-way streets almost always are put in to speed up car traffic and they are usually bad for cyclists and pedestrians as well as local businesses.

The point of these one-ways in Spain was to reduce car traffic in city neighborhoods while making them more attractive for neighborhood people on foot and on bikes.

I think most cities would have to develop more mixed development to make the super blocks work. The sad truth is that most American neighborhoods are boring and lack amenities for complete living. Of course, merely putting in the super blocks might eventually encourage new markets, restaurants, and other amenities within neighborhoods. (Of course that would take some time!)

Zoning seems to keep things that way. An entire series of connected blocks are zoned R75 or whatever, so nobody can open a restaurant, hardware store, etc. The fear that having such a business pop up next to YOU is a real concern about property values, traffic, etc. It means these mixed use areas would usually be designed into new development if they happen at all. It's more challenging to find a way for existing areas to evolve to mixed use.

Mixed use luxury construction is happening everywhere. In towns all around me, this kind of mixed use construction has become the norm and it's not going away. Cities want upscale restaurants and shops on the ground floor of new buildings. Unfortunately, as Roody said, most towns are boring with the same fast food and coffee shops. However, if you can attract independent high quality restaurants to start up in your downtown district, you'll have something very special that not many towns ever achieve.

I wish my town looked like the picture below.

barcelona-plaza.jpg

The change to mixed use zoning is speeding up in many areas. Here, zoning laws prohibited apartments above ground floor stores and offices for decades. Now they are not only permitted but encouraged. Both old buildings and new developments contain upper apartments in several parts of the city within the last few years.