41PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALEJANDRO CHASKIELBERG FOR BLOOMBERGBUSINESSWEEKBloomberg Businessweek � Urbanization November 4, 2019In the neighborhood of Once, west of
the microcenter, resistance from ware-
house owners and retailers was so intense
that the municipality dramatically scaled
back its plans. “This is a city where 3 million
people go to work every day, many of them
by car,” says Pablo Güiraldes, director of
urban renewal for the city’s Environment
and Public Space Ministry. “It’s hard to
calm down expectations of bringing and
parking your car everywhere after more than
50 years of pro-automobile policies.”
Similar problems have come up in Quito,
Ecuador, where Rueda first drew up plans for
superblocks in June 2014.
Since then a few streets
have been converted, but
because bus lines in the
country are mostly privately
owned, the city govern-
ment wasn’t able to reroute
the buses, which still roar
through the proposed
superblocks.
Even in Spain, some
residents aren’t willing
to cede the streets to
pedes trians just yet. In
Barcelona, where the
city government has built
six superblocks, with
plans to create as many
as 503 by 2050, there
have been small but feisty public protests.
In the Poblenou neighborhood, one local,
Francesco Abad, complained last year to
the newspaper Ara, “Now I need another
20 minutes to go to work. I have to walk a
third of a mile to get to my car.” The website
CityLab reported that car trips around the
superblocks were taking three times as long
as before. “Continuing this pattern across
the city ... would make navigating Barcelona
by car as complex as solving a Rubik’s Cube,”
the article noted.� Retiro is one of five Buenos Aires neighborhoods
designated for superblocks41PHOTOGRAPHS BY ALEJANDRO CHASKIELBERG FOR BLOOMBERG
BUSINESSWEEK
Bloomberg Businessweek � Urbanization November 4, 2019In the neighborhood of Once, west of
the microcenter, resistance from ware-
house owners and retailers was so intense
that the municipality dramatically scaled
back its plans. “This is a city where 3 million
people go to work every day, many of them
by car,” says Pablo Güiraldes, director of
urban renewal for the city’s Environment
and Public Space Ministry. “It’s hard to
calm down expectations of bringing and
parking your car everywhere after more than
50 years of pro-automobile policies.”
Similar problems have come up in Quito,
Ecuador, where Rueda first drew up plans for
superblocks in June 2014.
Since then a few streets
have been converted, but
because bus lines in the
country are mostly privately
owned, the city govern-
ment wasn’t able to reroute
the buses, which still roar
through the proposed
superblocks.
EveninSpain,some
residents aren’t willing
tocedethestreetsto
pedestrians just yet. In
Barcelona, where the
city government has built
six superblocks, with
plans to create as many
as 503 by 2050, there
havebeensmallbutfeistypublicprotests.
InthePoblenouneighborhood, one local,
Francesco Abad, complained last year to
the newspaper Ara, “Now I need another
20 minutes to go to work. I have to walk a
third of a mile to get to my car.” The website
CityLab reported that car trips around the
superblocks were taking three times as long
asbefore.“Continuingthispatternacross
thecity...would make navigating Barcelona
by car as complex as solving a Rubik’s Cube,”
the article noted.� Retiro is one of five Buenos Aires neighborhoods
designated for superblocks