
Photo of Poblenou Superilla By Miriam Williams
Exploring Superillas (Superblocks) in Barcelona, Spain
In April 2025, Dr Miriam Williams visited Barcelona as part of her research on Care-informed Urban Governance. During her visit she took up the opportunity to explore some of the many vibrant public spaces of the city. Here she shares some observations and insights of the Superillas in Barcelona.

Barcelona- a lesson on the importance of public spaces in dense cities
For many years Barcelona has been known as leader in experimenting and responding to complex urban issues. The city has many unique public spaces that have been shaped by its history, architecture and people. The well-known Superblocks or Superillas have become a leading international example of urban design responding to the challenges of pollution and congestion as well as creating better access to urban public space near where people live. The idea of the superillas was first introduced in 1987 and the first pilot introduced in 2003. Ronika Postaria (in Superblock (Superilla) Barcelona—a city redefined) writes:
"Barcelona’s Superblocks (Superille in Catalan) [have become} global best practices for two significant reasons-
a) Prioritising people over cars [on internal, traffic-calmed streets] with a focus on accessibility, and b) following [a] community participation rulebook. ‘Superblocks’ are 400 x 400 m units–bigger than a block, yet small[er] than a whole neighbourhood. Through the urban design concept, the city aims to recover space for the community, improve biodiversity, move towards sustainable mobility, and encourage social cohesion".
Whilst the practical layout of each superilla differs, they are largely based on the idea of inhibiting traffic in the central streets of a collection of 9 blocks through traffic calming measures, the enforcement of lower speed limits and the creation of public space infrastructures (parks, benches etc).
Poblenou Superilla
I visited part of the Poblenou Superilla located to the north east of the Gothic Quarter. The internal streets are pedestrianised with green spaces, benches, bike paths, and play areas which are located in the spaces between buildings and car traffic is unable to go above 10km. Despite initial community opposition, the Superilla transformed the neighbourhood by providing residents with greater access to public space and reducing emissions from car transportation with many health benefits. You can read more about this Superilla here and here.

The age of the buildings situated within the superilla varied, with some being social housing, which is less common in Barcelona than in other cities. This part of the Superilla was well cared for, with a variety of greenery and plants, benches to sit at, lighting, play spaces, sand pits and a community garden.







Photos by Miriam Williams
"More than a conventional urban regeneration project, the “Poblenou Superblock” can be understood as a cultural product which has brought to light the need to make a commitment to more equitable and sustainable mobility as a way of combatting such serious but often overlooked emergencies as spatial injustice, poor air quality, and climate change. In this regard, the first pilot trial has helped to pave the way to the next “superblocks” in the Barcelona of the Cerdà plan."
David Bravo in Poblenou "Superblock".
Learning from dense cities having to retrofit public spaces
In walking the streets of Barcelona and observing the increasing number of green access corridors, mass plantings and streets being retrofitted as public spaces from car dominated streets, I reflected upon the increasing densification of cities like Sydney. Barcelona has a well-designed public transport system and is walkable with an extensive cycle network. Like Sydney and many other cities in Europe, Barcelona is also experiencing a 'housing crisis', the pressures of gentrification, and the need to develop innovate solutions to improve and enhance public space provisioning including creating new public spaces from roads in order to ensure residents have places to play and spend time outside.
With the increased emphasis on building housing around transit nodes in Sydney, we also have an opportunity to ensure residents living in apartments have access to vibrant and well-designed public spaces with good transit connections decreasing reliance upon cars. Rather than needing to retrofit public spaces in car-dominated neighbourhoods, what if instead we required all new developments to provide high-quality public and green space access from the outset?

Rather than needing to retrofit public spaces in car dominated neighbourhoods, what if instead we required all new developments to provide high quality public and green space access from the outset?
Dr Miriam Williams
Barcelona has continued to create further public spaces in a once car-dominated city. Recent interventions have included the creation of green corridor networks, enhancing active mobility options, increasing shade cover in public spaces and responding to the many pressing issues cause by climate change and inequality in innovative ways. New programs focus on creating green access corridors in places like 22@, moving beyond the Superilla program to increase pedestrian walkability and create more green zones for residents.
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