Barcelona, city of superblocks and scooters

Like many other cities in the world, Barcelona faces the paradox of experiencing an unstoppable municipalist yearning for the pacification of roads traditionally destined for motor vehicles, while, in parallel, the ancestral spaces of pedestrians suffer the invasion of increasingly fast electric gadgets. In the case of our city, the fact is particularly curious given that (thanks to the brilliant intuition of the genius Cerdà) the structure of the Eixample destined gardening to the interiors of blocks and motor speed to asphalted roads. Stories aside, it seems evident that the cities of the future will reduce the presence of motors in their center (we should objectively celebrate this with regard to our lung health), powerless to prevent the progressive conversion of sidewalks into highways for vehicles of a more hipster air than cars but with an equally stressful effect.

Several decades ago, it would have greatly surprised us that the paradox in question –expressed in the controversies of superblocks and the over-presence of electric scooters, respectively– would become one of the hits of current Barcelona news. But reality shows us that the tribe's newspapers already have sections dedicated to the topic and have even promoted surveys where the pacification of streets divides Barcelonans more than the commotions of the procés. That the present case enters the marketplace of politiqueta makes it even more nebulous: first, because the debate on superblocks has become one of the battle horses of the current municipal administration (despite being a project created by Hereu's PSC and maintained by Trias when he was mayor) and, second, because Colau's project has nothing to do with superblocks, limiting itself to pacifying some isolated roads.

The super-block is a great idea of 21st-century European urban planning (one of its fathers, by the way, is our excellent Salvador Rueda) and the idea of pacifying two streets, maintaining one for traffic, has led to in-person reductions of combustion cars close to 50%. Barcelona could have perfectly considered transitioning to the model in question, taking advantage of its unmatched grid and, in fact, beyond painting the asphalt of the streets with aesthetically unbearable colors, it could have completely raised it to create green areas or quiet passages. But the current model maintains the abusive presence of automobiles and the only thing it will end up causing is more traffic jams on the roads near the pacified road (residents of Valencia street, buy respirators). In fact, what is most surprising about the current debate on super-blocks is that everyone has an opinion on something that doesn't fit them. 

The current model maintains the abusive presence of automobiles and the only thing it will end up causing is more traffic jams on the roads near the pacified road

It is not surprising that, with data from the City Council, the accident rate related to scooters has multiplied exponentially by 25% annually. Just yesterday we learned that our city will be one of the first to require scooter riders to wear helmets, avoid riding with a companion, and not occupy sidewalks. This legislation comes late, because many pedestrian areas have already naturalized the omnipresence of such vehicles (and, it must also be said, part of the citizenry has normalized it by feeding solely on the Glovo diet). If cities like ours pacify the streets in a random way, still suffering from a very deficient public transport, this type of transport will increase exponentially and not even the best police in the world will be able to control it. This is, in short and as usually happens, the result of doing things late and halfway.

Barcelona could be a city of superblocks and scooters, but I very much fear that it will end up being a city where the feat of walking will be more difficult every day.