As is the case in many cities, vehicular congestion in New York City is a substantive problem that effects air quality and energy consumption. One European city has been quite successful in solving it. Barcelona’s “superblocks” exemplify how urban planning can be applied to make cities more pedestrian friendly and achieve remarkable change to pollution and fuel use. These “superblocks” are an innovative way for directing traffic throughout congested areas, by grouping together sets of nine blocks. Heavy traffic such as buses and trucks are restricted to the perimeter of these “superblocks”, and all traffic on interior streets is either very limited in speed, or eliminated from certain streets altogether. This approach has created pedestrian space and helped the city reduce emissions from vehicles.
My idea is to apply the same strategy in New York City. I am far from the first person to propose this and a quick google of “NYC superblocks” yields a great many results. It seems this policy can be fairly straightforward in application, as New York streets are already arranged in a grid pattern. Interviewed for New York Magazine, Architect Norman Foster, when asked what his dream project for the city would be, envisions the transformation of many streets into pedestrian plazas similar to the piazzas in Italy, one of which he draws here as an extension of Madison Square Park. The New York Times has already imagined what this would look like if applied to Manhattan’s grid pattern.
There are of course challenges and issues to be wary of. For one, the term “superblock” has been used in New York’s urban planning history during the practice of “slum removal” of the early twentieth century. This involved the removing and replacing of many residential blocks with new commercial constructions that continuously span several streets, also called “superblocks”. Lincoln Center is one such “superblock”. This program, a part of “Urban Renewal” policies, so disproportionately harmed low income communities of color, that James Baldwin coined for it the term “Negro Removal”. That is not what I am talking about here, but the association of the two can be a problem.
Another critical challenge to this plan could be the lack of good transportation alternatives to walking, as the subway continues to fall into disrepair. Clearly the success of this plan is reliant on investment in the subway system. Also important to consider are the ways weather patterns in New York City can be prohibitive of pedestrian travel during parts of the year. Still, I think this pattern of traffic arrangement can be a good solution to car congestion and can encourage more people to seek sustainable methods of transportation.
Sources:
Vox – Superblocks: How Barcelona Is Taking City Streets Back From Cars
NY Times – What New York Can Learn From Barcelona’s ‘Superblocks’
New York Magazine – 9 Top Architects Share Their Dream Projects To Improve NYC
Museum of The City of New York – The Greatest Grid: The Master Plan of Manhattan
