While pollution was not a high priority for the city’s previous administration, former mayor Xavier Trias, with the support of most of the political groups in the city council, approved the new Urban Mobility Plan, which gives the new government the tools to tackle traffic, pollution, and reclaim road space for pedestrian use.

To better understand how the new administration plans to address those challenges, I sat down with Mercedes Vidal, Councillor of Mobility, and President of the Metropolitan Transport Authority of Barcelona.

Vidal, who is a newcomer to the city’s government, worked for nearly 10 years in the Urban Ecology Agency of Barcelona before being elected to the city council.

Mercedes Vidal

According to Vidal, the basis of the Mobility Plan is the Superilles (Catalan for Superblocks). After nearly 30 years of planning and many political hurdles, the superblocks are finally starting to be deployed in Barcelona, with the first one opened in the Poble Nou district in September. Over the next three years, Vidal says, the plan is to open around 10 new superblocks in different areas of the city. “We are going to increase space for pedestrians with superblocks and other pacifying strategies,” she said.

Janet Sanz Cid, a deputy mayor of Barcelona, described the Superblock program as “winning back the streets for the people.”

The full implementation of the Superblocks Plan (about 100 superblocks in all) will take much longer and won’t be completed during this city council’s term. Part of that is because the Urban Mobility Plan was approved three years later than originally drafted. The plan also needs to be adapted to demands, Vidal says, as some areas not originally included are requesting the implementation of superblocks to pacify their streets.

Public Transport

Vidal believes the superblocks are also key to fully implementing the new grid network for buses, which will serve to connect the whole city via high-capacity, energy-efficient buses. It will reduce the number of routes from 94 to 28, but maintain the same number of buses, so wait time will average less than five minutes.