https://theconversation.com/superblocks-are-transforming-barcelona-they-might-work-in-australian-cities-too-123354

The Spanish city of Barcelona has pioneered an innovative approach to managing traffic, freeing up public space and promoting walking and cycling. The “superblocks” model produces considerable health and economic benefits, according to newly published research, and could be applied in Australian cities too.

(Article is 4 years old)

https://youtu.be/ZORzsubQA_M

dv said:

https://theconversation.com/superblocks-are-transforming-barcelona-they-might-work-in-australian-cities-too-123354

The Spanish city of Barcelona has pioneered an innovative approach to managing traffic, freeing up public space and promoting walking and cycling. The “superblocks” model produces considerable health and economic benefits, according to newly published research, and could be applied in Australian cities too.

(Article is 4 years old)

https://youtu.be/ZORzsubQA_M

So what’s the innovation?

Or was the article 40 years old?

The Rev Dodgson said:

dv said:

https://theconversation.com/superblocks-are-transforming-barcelona-they-might-work-in-australian-cities-too-123354

The Spanish city of Barcelona has pioneered an innovative approach to managing traffic, freeing up public space and promoting walking and cycling. The “superblocks” model produces considerable health and economic benefits, according to newly published research, and could be applied in Australian cities too.

(Article is 4 years old)

https://youtu.be/ZORzsubQA_M

So what’s the innovation?

Or was the article 40 years old?

The innovation is that only every third or fourth street in the grid is open to regular through traffic. The couple of streets in between are no through roads and only for residents, visitors or services for that particular block.

party_pants said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

dv said:

https://theconversation.com/superblocks-are-transforming-barcelona-they-might-work-in-australian-cities-too-123354

The Spanish city of Barcelona has pioneered an innovative approach to managing traffic, freeing up public space and promoting walking and cycling. The “superblocks” model produces considerable health and economic benefits, according to newly published research, and could be applied in Australian cities too.

(Article is 4 years old)

https://youtu.be/ZORzsubQA_M

So what’s the innovation?

Or was the article 40 years old?

The innovation is that only every third or fourth street in the grid is open to regular through traffic. The couple of streets in between are no through roads and only for residents, visitors or services for that particular block.

Bollards.

party_pants said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

dv said:

https://theconversation.com/superblocks-are-transforming-barcelona-they-might-work-in-australian-cities-too-123354

The Spanish city of Barcelona has pioneered an innovative approach to managing traffic, freeing up public space and promoting walking and cycling. The “superblocks” model produces considerable health and economic benefits, according to newly published research, and could be applied in Australian cities too.

(Article is 4 years old)

https://youtu.be/ZORzsubQA_M

So what’s the innovation?

Or was the article 40 years old?

The innovation is that only every third or fourth street in the grid is open to regular through traffic. The couple of streets in between are no through roads and only for residents, visitors or services for that particular block.

But there was nothing new about that 4 years ago.

It might have been 40 years ago, I’d have to check.

The Rev Dodgson said:

party_pants said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

So what’s the innovation?

Or was the article 40 years old?

The innovation is that only every third or fourth street in the grid is open to regular through traffic. The couple of streets in between are no through roads and only for residents, visitors or services for that particular block.

But there was nothing new about that 4 years ago.

It might have been 40 years ago, I’d have to check.

The implementation of the plan in Barcelona started in 2016. In terms of urban planning and development it is a relatively recent innovation. It has taken a couple of years to implement and roll-out. There was a probably a “wait and see how this works out” attitude toward it from the rest of the profession. Now it seems to be getting serious attention, as a way of retro-fitting old grid style cities without substantial alteration and cost. Probably just as relevant today as 4 years ago.

dv said:

https://theconversation.com/superblocks-are-transforming-barcelona-they-might-work-in-australian-cities-too-123354

The Spanish city of Barcelona has pioneered an innovative approach to managing traffic, freeing up public space and promoting walking and cycling. The “superblocks” model produces considerable health and economic benefits, according to newly published research, and could be applied in Australian cities too.

(Article is 4 years old)

https://youtu.be/ZORzsubQA_M

The bastards. They already do that throughout Sydney and Melbourne.

And it flucks things up quite royally.

Essentially, all they’re doing is reducing the road capacity of the city – everywhere – by a factor four or more.
With the result that there are huge traffic jams, until everyone without a superhuman amount of patience gives up and doesn’t travel to work or entertainment or anything any more. Resulting in a huge loss of income to businesses all throughout the city because people literally can’t get to the stores.

City centre house prices skyrocket, because nobody can get to the city from the suburbs, so the only way to get to a central work place is to live there.

It’s the worst thing you can do to a city, short of cutting off the water supply – and it’s already been done throughout Melbourne.

party_pants said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

party_pants said:

The innovation is that only every third or fourth street in the grid is open to regular through traffic. The couple of streets in between are no through roads and only for residents, visitors or services for that particular block.

But there was nothing new about that 4 years ago.

It might have been 40 years ago, I’d have to check.

The implementation of the plan in Barcelona started in 2016. In terms of urban planning and development it is a relatively recent innovation. It has taken a couple of years to implement and roll-out. There was a probably a “wait and see how this works out” attitude toward it from the rest of the profession. Now it seems to be getting serious attention, as a way of retro-fitting old grid style cities without substantial alteration and cost. Probably just as relevant today as 4 years ago.

But it isn’t recent.

According to TATE my 40 years should have been 700 years:
“In Britain, shopping streets primarily for pedestrians date back to the thirteenth century. “

That may be stretching things a little, since cars hadn’t really taken off in the 1200’s, but certainly by 1970’s to 80’s shutting down city streets to motor traffic was quite widespread.

Needless to say, I think moll’s comments are going a little too far the other way.

mollwollfumble said:

dv said:

https://theconversation.com/superblocks-are-transforming-barcelona-they-might-work-in-australian-cities-too-123354

The Spanish city of Barcelona has pioneered an innovative approach to managing traffic, freeing up public space and promoting walking and cycling. The “superblocks” model produces considerable health and economic benefits, according to newly published research, and could be applied in Australian cities too.

(Article is 4 years old)

https://youtu.be/ZORzsubQA_M

The bastards. They already do that throughout Sydney and Melbourne.

And it flucks things up quite royally.

Essentially, all they’re doing is reducing the road capacity of the city – everywhere – by a factor four or more.
With the result that there are huge traffic jams, until everyone without a superhuman amount of patience gives up and doesn’t travel to work or entertainment or anything any more. Resulting in a huge loss of income to businesses all throughout the city because people literally can’t get to the stores.

City centre house prices skyrocket, because nobody can get to the city from the suburbs, so the only way to get to a central work place is to live there.

It’s the worst thing you can do to a city, short of cutting off the water supply – and it’s already been done throughout Melbourne.

It is intended to break the car-centric paradigm for people getting around the old city. Getting them out of cars and on to buses, trams, bicycles, scooters or walking. It is intended for the inner city and inner suburbs in dense European cities. Whether is works in Australian or North American suburban sprawl remains to be seen – but I’d say probably not. Our low-density suburbs are just not laid in the same way as the high density cities of Europe.

The Rev Dodgson said:

party_pants said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

But there was nothing new about that 4 years ago.

It might have been 40 years ago, I’d have to check.

The implementation of the plan in Barcelona started in 2016. In terms of urban planning and development it is a relatively recent innovation. It has taken a couple of years to implement and roll-out. There was a probably a “wait and see how this works out” attitude toward it from the rest of the profession. Now it seems to be getting serious attention, as a way of retro-fitting old grid style cities without substantial alteration and cost. Probably just as relevant today as 4 years ago.

But it isn’t recent.

According to TATE my 40 years should have been 700 years:
“In Britain, shopping streets primarily for pedestrians date back to the thirteenth century. “

That may be stretching things a little, since cars hadn’t really taken off in the 1200’s, but certainly by 1970’s to 80’s shutting down city streets to motor traffic was quite widespread.

Needless to say, I think moll’s comments are going a little too far the other way.

I think you might be in a bit of a mood. Obviously the articles aren’t about the invention of “shopping streets”. Maybe watch the vid or read the details.

dv said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

party_pants said:

The implementation of the plan in Barcelona started in 2016. In terms of urban planning and development it is a relatively recent innovation. It has taken a couple of years to implement and roll-out. There was a probably a “wait and see how this works out” attitude toward it from the rest of the profession. Now it seems to be getting serious attention, as a way of retro-fitting old grid style cities without substantial alteration and cost. Probably just as relevant today as 4 years ago.

But it isn’t recent.

According to TATE my 40 years should have been 700 years:
“In Britain, shopping streets primarily for pedestrians date back to the thirteenth century. “

That may be stretching things a little, since cars hadn’t really taken off in the 1200’s, but certainly by 1970’s to 80’s shutting down city streets to motor traffic was quite widespread.

Needless to say, I think moll’s comments are going a little too far the other way.

I think you might be in a bit of a mood. Obviously the articles aren’t about the invention of “shopping streets”. Maybe watch the vid or read the details.

Read the details?

Not the forum way.

I’m not talking about the “invention of “shopping streets”“ either.

Just to keep dv happy, I read the whole article.

I still don’t see anything in there that hasn’t been talked about and done for decades. Maybe it covers a wider Area in Barcelona than previous similar developments. Hard to say.

The Rev Dodgson said:

Just to keep dv happy, I read the whole article.

I still don’t see anything in there that hasn’t been talked about and done for decades. Maybe it covers a wider Area in Barcelona than previous similar developments. Hard to say.

It establishes a high density rectilinear grid of walkable paths while maintaining a lower density rectilinear grid of roads.

The Rev Dodgson said:

Just to keep dv happy, I read the whole article.

I still don’t see anything in there that hasn’t been talked about and done for decades. Maybe it covers a wider Area in Barcelona than previous similar developments. Hard to say.

Never been to Barcelona myself, but my understanding is that this is being done on quite a large scale, centrally planned and implemented by the city authorities.

party_pants said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

Just to keep dv happy, I read the whole article.

I still don’t see anything in there that hasn’t been talked about and done for decades. Maybe it covers a wider Area in Barcelona than previous similar developments. Hard to say.

Never been to Barcelona myself, but my understanding is that this is being done on quite a large scale, centrally planned and implemented by the city authorities.

I Binged “is barcelona redevelopment an innovation” and the first two hits were academic papers from 2012 :)

Essentially, Barcelona has re-discovered the concept of road hierarchy.

But extended it a bit to appear more modern and progressive.

Well done them!

:p

Essentially, Barcelona has re-discovered the concept of road hierarchy.

But extended it a bit to appear more modern and progressive.

Well done them!

:p

They should watch some City Planner Plays Cities Skylines on YouTube.