Jaume Barnada, Barcelona Urban Ecology Strategic Planning Researcher
“Barcelona showed its vision of a future city through the superblock project. “The whole world is paying attention to this.”
Jaume Barnada, a researcher at the External Cooperation Project and Urban Ecology Strategic Planning (photo), met at Barcelona City Hall in Spain on the 21st of last month (local time) and said, “The meaning of the superblock is that it presents a new direction for the city’s public spaces.”
The Superblock project was promoted with the purpose of fundamentally rethinking Barcelona’s public spaces. Researcher Barnada said, “The basic principle of the superblock is to create a healthier city by reducing air pollution, noise pollution, and traffic accidents,” and added, “Instead of roads where cars travel, a space where citizens can engage in leisure activities and establish various relationships with the community.” “We focused on providing ,” he said.
During the initial superblock development process, the city of Barcelona encountered opposition from residents, such as insufficient parking spaces and inconvenient traffic. However, we gained support from citizens through continuous communication. Researcher Barnada explained, “In the process of presenting the blueprint for the superblock to citizens and discussing together how to change the space, opposing opinions gradually decreased.” Superblocks are now considered a globally successful urban plan. More than 300 cities and institutions visit Barcelona every year to benchmark superblocks. Researcher Barnada said, “Currently, over 150 cities, including New York and Paris, are pursuing the implementation of the superblock project.”
Even in Korea, some experts point out that there is a need to introduce pedestrian-oriented areas such as superblocks. Regarding this, Researcher Barnada said, “Seoul is already close to a city that has been completely created according to plan, so introducing a new super block concept will be quite difficult.” “I think similar considerations to the block are necessary,” he said.
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Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.