1
00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:08,779
If you imagine a typical American city street and you take away the space that's dedicated to cars, you aren't left with very much.

2
00:00:09,140 --> 00:00:13,519
There are some narrow walkways on the side and some bridges in between them, but not much else.

3
00:00:14,019 --> 00:00:15,480
Cars dominate cities.

4
00:00:15,919 --> 00:00:20,460
Spend some time walking around most cities and you'll find yourself pushed to narrow sidewalks, waiting for crosswalk lights.

5
00:00:20,719 --> 00:00:23,519
You'll find cyclists navigating really narrow strips of space.

6
00:00:23,859 --> 00:00:27,559
Americans are used to cars the way that fish are used to water.

7
00:00:28,100 --> 00:00:34,299
And that's so ubiquitous in the U.S. that I think most people, it just never occurs to them that it could be otherwise.

8
00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:36,679
But what if there were a way to change that?

9
00:00:36,859 --> 00:00:42,579
To give space back to pedestrians and bicyclists and to make cities more friendly to life outside of a car?

10
00:00:42,979 --> 00:00:45,119
It turns out Barcelona might have a solution.

11
00:00:47,619 --> 00:00:51,200
In 2014, the city was faced with serious air pollution problems.

12
00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:56,520
Barcelona and its 35 surrounding municipalities consistently failed to meet the EU's air quality targets.

13
00:00:56,960 --> 00:01:02,320
And studies were showing that air pollution in the region was causing 3,500 premature deaths every year.

14
00:01:02,719 --> 00:01:04,980
Traffic in the city also causes severe noise pollution.

15
00:01:05,500 --> 00:01:11,000
So the city developed an extensive urban mobility plan with the hope of reducing traffic by 21%.

16
00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:13,579
The coolest part of the plan were these things.

17
00:01:15,299 --> 00:01:17,040
They call them superillas.

18
00:01:17,420 --> 00:01:17,959
Superillas?

19
00:01:18,239 --> 00:01:19,540
Sí, superillas.

20
00:01:19,540 --> 00:01:24,579
That translates to superblocks. It's this urban design concept intended to minimize the presence

21
00:01:24,579 --> 00:01:29,700
of cars in city centers. The word superblock has been used before to describe huge city blocks

22
00:01:29,700 --> 00:01:34,400
without any passageways for cars, but that's not what's happening here. So here's how Barcelona's

23
00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:39,959
plan works. You take nine square city blocks and you close off the inside to through traffic. So

24
00:01:39,959 --> 00:01:45,000
buses and big freight trucks or any vehicles that are trying to get from one part of town to the

25
00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:47,319
Next, have to drive around the perimeter.

26
00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:49,379
Inside the Superblock, the speed limit is kept

27
00:01:49,379 --> 00:01:50,780
to 10 kilometers per hour.

28
00:01:50,780 --> 00:01:53,500
That translates to just over six miles per hour.

29
00:01:53,500 --> 00:01:56,060
And curbside parking is replaced by underground parking.

30
00:01:56,060 --> 00:01:57,959
And that means you wind up with street space

31
00:01:57,959 --> 00:02:00,500
for markets and outdoor games and events.

32
00:02:00,500 --> 00:02:02,299
Within this nine square block perimeter,

33
00:02:02,299 --> 00:02:05,879
you're gonna have kind of a pleasant streetscape

34
00:02:05,879 --> 00:02:09,919
where people can walk around and mingle and do things

35
00:02:09,919 --> 00:02:13,719
without this kind of constant fear of cars around.

36
00:02:13,719 --> 00:02:17,680
The concept is going to be tested out in five neighborhoods, but the city has identified

37
00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:22,340
120 possible intersections throughout the region where it could be implemented.

38
00:02:22,340 --> 00:02:24,840
So how do we know what the results of this kind of plan would look like?

39
00:02:24,840 --> 00:02:29,099
Well, northwest of Barcelona is a city called Vitoria Gasteiz, which has implemented superblock

40
00:02:29,099 --> 00:02:31,219
designs since 2008.

41
00:02:31,219 --> 00:02:35,219
In the main superblock at the city center, pedestrian space increased from 45% of the

42
00:02:35,219 --> 00:02:38,000
total surface area to 74%.

43
00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:43,580
With so much less traffic, noise levels dropped from 66.5 decibels to 61 decibels.

44
00:02:43,580 --> 00:02:50,460
Most impressive of all, there was a 42% reduction in nitrogen oxide emissions and a 38% reduction in particle pollution in the area.

45
00:02:50,919 --> 00:02:52,560
And on top of that, business is up.

46
00:02:52,560 --> 00:03:02,240
What you consistently see when people change their streetscapes to prioritize human beings over cars is you don't see any decline in economic activity.

47
00:03:02,419 --> 00:03:03,080
You see the opposite.

48
00:03:03,259 --> 00:03:10,199
You get more people walking and cycling around more slowly, stopping more often, patronizing businesses more.

49
00:03:10,199 --> 00:03:15,939
And that kind of sort of that social, that center of social activity will tend to build on itself.

50
00:03:16,080 --> 00:03:19,800
So here's the question. Could something like this work in an American city?

51
00:03:20,439 --> 00:03:31,979
Barcelona has some unique advantages getting started on this plan in that a lot of it was built before cars and a lot of it was built on a simple grid.

52
00:03:31,979 --> 00:03:40,139
The district of Eixample, which is where the superblock plan is based, was designed in 1859 in this repetitive grid structure by this guy.

53
00:03:40,199 --> 00:03:45,800
Ildefons Serda. He basically invented the word for and the study of urbanization when he laid

54
00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:50,759
out this grid plan for Barcelona that evenly distributed resources like schools and hospitals.

55
00:03:50,759 --> 00:03:55,400
But superblock designers insist that cities don't need a simple grid structure to implement this

56
00:03:55,400 --> 00:04:00,599
kind of plan. It can work anywhere. Now, cities in the US have attempted some car minimizing

57
00:04:00,599 --> 00:04:05,560
projects like this. The problem is they're usually done in wealthier areas with lots of existing

58
00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:10,580
businesses. Zoning policies often require separation of residential areas and commercial

59
00:04:10,580 --> 00:04:16,240
areas, but an ideal walkable area would be a mix of the two. On top of that, zoning minimums on

60
00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:21,319
parking availability encourage the presence of cars and parking lots, and minimums on street

61
00:04:21,319 --> 00:04:26,459
width make for really wide, unwalkable streets. And because of that, walkable districts are

62
00:04:26,459 --> 00:04:31,459
basically isolated luxury items in the U.S. What makes the Barcelona plan different is that they

63
00:04:31,459 --> 00:04:36,540
aren't setting aside one fancy neighborhood or town square to make pedestrian friendly. Instead,

64
00:04:36,800 --> 00:04:41,220
by proposing super blocks throughout the entire city, they've declared car-free spaces a right

65
00:04:41,220 --> 00:04:47,319
for everybody, no matter what part of town they're in. Maybe this might be overly optimistic, but I

66
00:04:47,319 --> 00:04:54,100
think it's sunk in in the U.S. that the model whereby every city resident comes with a car

67
00:04:54,100 --> 00:04:59,120
and drives a car everywhere is just inherently limited. It limits the growth of your city. It

68
00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:02,060
limits the health of your city and the growth of your city.

69
00:05:02,060 --> 00:05:05,779
So one way or another, we have to find ways

70
00:05:05,779 --> 00:05:09,139
of having a lot of people live close to one another

71
00:05:09,139 --> 00:05:11,120
without all of them having cars.

72
00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:14,519
You're being able to get around and work and play and live

73
00:05:14,519 --> 00:05:17,300
and have enjoyable lives without cars.

74
00:05:17,300 --> 00:05:21,939
And today, this is how the American road looks.