The two lecturers from the Projects Area at the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture Jaime Batlle and Iñaki Baquero have described Barcelona City Council’s project to transform the city’s Eixample neighbourhood into one big ‘superblock’, as “great news”, and advocate the potential of the model, designed by Ildefons Cerdà, “to evolve past nostalgia”.

Iñaki Baquero pointed out that ‘superblocks’ are success in many places where they have already been implemented, such as the Gràcia and El Born neighbourhoods, or the city of Vitoria. That being said, he also believes that the measure does not go far enough to mitigate pollution, and as such, suggests that a change must be made to all infrastructures, as well as applying specific, more targeted reforms.  “We have to accept the notion that private cars are not a right, they are a privilege”. 

Lecturer Jaime Batlle has also praised Barcelona City Council for making the most of COVID-19 to “implement multiple transformations” around the city, such as “superblocks, bike lanes and public transport networks, which until now have seemed impossible”, and has cautioned “parties involved against using the transformation as a means to sway political opinion”, instead encouraging “collective responsibility”. He also commented upon the role citizens play in this transformation, saying that they “must defend their right to use and enjoy public space whilst taking responsibility of it, getting involved and making sacrifices for the common good”. 

Both lecturers have celebrated the fact that, thanks to measures such as this one, “the world’s eyes are once again focused on Barcelona”, following the international response to the announcement by the City Council.  “That in itself is a great step forward”, he concluded.