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Women of Barcelona say cities belong to everyone
Barcelona is consulting feminists on urban development to help the city meet the needs of women.
City authorities headed by Mayor of Barcelona Ada Colau have a feminist agenda and noted that the Superblock programme is part of a broader push.
Deputy Mayor Janet Sanz launched the Superblock initiative aimed at minimising traffic in parts of the city, stressing that cars take up approximately 60% of public space.
She expressed belief that repurposing areas taken up by cars “is supportive of groups who did not have access to those areas” and added that Barcelona has to “prevent the strongest from taking up the most room.”
City authorities noted that the Superblock initiative will return the streets to pedestrians, cyclists and people who want to spend time in the streets.
According to plans, Barcelona will merge nine city blocs into one large bloc where traffic will be heavily regulated – access will be allowed to a small number of vehicles and maximum speed will be limited at 10 km/h.
Parking spaces will be moved below ground, while streets and crossroads will be replaced with parks and playgrounds.
City authorities noted that Barcelona implemented six such projects thus far and expressed hope that additional 500 blocs or so will be redesigned as part of the initiative.
Dafne Saldaña, co-founder of Equal Saree feminist architecture studio, pointed out that football fields take up a lot of room and added that use of public spaces should not be dominated by one type of activity.
(Photo Credit: Logan Armstrong / Unsplash)
