Urban Planning, Ecological Transition, Urban Services and Housing

Representatives and specialists from Paris, London, Copenhagen, Berlin, Milan, Vienna, Brussels, Rotterdam, Valencia, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Ghent, Ljubljana and Lodz will be meeting from 22 to 25 March. The goal is to share experiences and sign a manifesto in favour of green and traffic-clamed public space where local people are the priority.

The programme includes lectures, round tables, meetings, workshops and visits to spaces such as the green streets of L’Eixample, the Sant Antoni and Poblenou superblocks, the central park in Plaça de les Glòries, Av. Diagonal and Av. Meridiana.

The opening on 22 March includes a lecture from Janette Sadik-Khan, a global figure in urban planning and transport. There’s a round table at Ca l’Alier the following day with deputy mayors sharing the urban models being developed by Barcelona and the guest cities. In the afternoon there’s a presentation of the book Superilla Barcelona, which summarises the work done on superblocks in recent years.

On Friday morning, participating cities will be sharing their urban transformation models and taking part in a session to commit to pursuing measures on public space that prioritise people, sustainable mobility, greenery and better environmental quality, and to work together to move forward in this sphere.

The meeting rounds off on Saturday 25 March with a festive event entitled “Viu la Superilla”, with concerts, workshops, performances, entertainment and various other activities.

Barcelona Superblock: European model for sustainable urban planning

The idea to organise the meeting came after the network of cities in the European project Tune Our Block chose the superblock concept such as the one developed in Barcelona as an example of a political and planning strategy to boost the urban transition towards sustainability and the decarbonisation of cities.