Urban Planning, Ecological Transition, Urban Services and Housing

Work will be carried out in areas around 89 schools between this year and next year, bringing the number of schools with safer and healthier traffic-calmed surroundings to 216 and benefitting 86,000 children in sixty Barcelona neighbourhoods. The work corresponds to the ‘Protecting Schools’ programme, launched by the City Council in 2020 with the transformation of the area around the Escola Grèvol in the district of Sant Martí, to reduce traffic and accidents and promote an urban model which puts children and families at the centre.

Work will be carried out between 2022 and 2023 to transform the areas around 89 schools: 73 in 2022, and 16 in 2023. The projects eliminate traffic lanes, widen pavements, regain space at street corners and improve signage and the surroundings with benches and garden tubs etc.

Once the work is completed, from the first street calming project to 2023, the city will have managed to:

• eliminate 16 traffic lanes
• calm 32 streets
• widen 68 pavements
• gain 30 street corners
• install 1,500 plant tubs
• regain 35,000 m² of asphalt for children and families
• invest 16.8 million euros

All these spaces consolidate an urban model designed more for people than for traffic. They improve access and exits at schools, away from cars, with no fumes or accidents, and with more pleasant areas for children and families to gather in.

‘Protecting Schools’

Barcelona City Council launched the programme ‘Protecting Schools’ in January 2020, with the traffic-calming project around the Escola Grèvol in the district of Sant Martí. The goal is to transform all the areas around schools into safe places, with fewer parked vehicles and lass traffic, fewer accidents and better air quality.

Updated information on work and a map of the schools can be found on the ‘Protecting Schools’ website.