Barcelona's Car-Free Smart City Experiment

An anonymous reader shares a report: In the centre of bustling and busy Barcelona there is unusual quiet: just the babble of children playing in a small playground and the sound of the birds. There is virtually no traffic and the space where cars would have parked is given over to play areas, trees and even a running track. Superblocks is a radical plan to reclaim the streets from the noise and pollution of traffic, one that could save hundreds of lives that might otherwise be lost because of heavily polluted air one that could save hundreds of lives that might otherwise be lost because of heavily polluted air. It also hopes to act as a blueprint for other cities. There are just six superblocks so far, but Barcelona plans hundreds of others. They are made up of nine existing blocks joined together into an area which bans all but essential vehicles - which are limited to 10 kph (6mph). Parking for residents is underground. Some residents are opposed to the plan, either because they want to have their cars outside their homes or because they run local businesses and feel that trade will be affected by cutting off traffic flow. But the idea is proving popular with other cities such as Seattle, which is considering introducing something similar. "Cars take up 60% of public space across the city," explained Barcelona's deputy mayor for urbanism Janet Sanz in a recent BBC interview. "As soon as you redistribute that space and rebalance the situation, you are supporting groups that until then have had no access to that space."

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