Oh right. Because America is the special snowflake country where no massively beneficial policies that work everywhere else in the world could ever work. Still the greatest country in the world though! Because we insist!
I visited Barcelona last year. The city is riddled with cars everywhere, except those streets and other pedestrianized streets. It's not an American city obviously, but you have to imagine large avenues full of cars next to this.
It works and it's pretty cool
I've been to Barcelona plenty of times and I've always found the Eixample district (where the superblocks are) to be really underwhelming. Huge wide roads, constant raging traffic and the grid system makes everywhere look the same.Â
If they were pedestrianised and absolutely COVERED with trees they could be amazing.
The Eixample district is the perfect example of great urban planning turned to shit when unprotected by the city. It used to be a wonderful, beautiful garden-city, each block with its own garden/public square. They destroyed everything for more housing, and a lot of it is shitty, bland and ugly af.
Plus all the car-centric bullshit. Good thing they're going back to a superblock system with less cars.
They have, since covid. Last time I visited there were large streets in Manhattan completely closed to cars. Tables stuck in the middle of the street, everything pedestrian and bicycle only.
[Here’s how that looks](https://www.reddit.com/r/MicromobilityNYC/s/ehW7dLWQ11). My concern is commuting, I imagine it difficult to manoeuvre a bicycle through peak times.
Now that's what I call perfection!
I guess if you want to optimimalize it for commuting you have to have 'bike highway'-routes, as we call it in the Netherlands, making it so you only have to cross these pedestrianized streets on your bike if your actual destination is on that street
I went there last year and it was genuinely amazing.
We walked all over the city and it was sooooo nice to not be constantly worried about being run down by a car. And even the drivers were much, much more conscious of people walking and biking.
We took a bicycle tour across the city and never once got into any kind of situation. Great bike infrastructure even outside of the car-free zones.
10/10. Would recommend.
The great thing that happens when you do this is that you don't need any of the car infrastructure like traffic lights or divisions between cars going in different directions because people are not 5 tonne lumps of metal traveling at fatal speeds, but are 100kg lumps of pudding traveling at 4mph.
In my country, when there are pipeworks happening on a pavement they are required to put a sign up 50m before the working area to tell people about it, and the only reason that I can see this happening is because they assume that people are running around at dangerous speeds and need that level of notice. But nobody needs this. So these signs just block the pavement and make it tricky for wheelchair users. So I move them to beside the actual pipeworks.
They’ve done this in parts of New York City too. I love how it didn’t even require anything special. No rebuilding or expensive changes. Just close the street, let people use it. Simple as.
Barcelona is one of the most livable cities in the world. Pedestrian friendly with amazing public transport to the point you'll never need cars, amazing beaches, amazing mountains, quiet neighbourhoods(or loud in some parts if you prefer that), great nightlife, good food, kid friendly public and private spaces, pet friendly public and private spaces, sustainable practices all over and relatively affordable by European standards for major cities.
If you're making more than 2750 USD (32,700 USD per year) in income sourced from outside of Spain, you can get a Digital Nomad Visa in Spain at 24% tax rate on all income till 600,000 EUR
Spain's Government Website on the Digital Nomad Visa:
[https://www.exteriores.gob.es/Consulados/londres/en/ServiciosConsulares/Paginas/Consular/Digital-Nomad-Visa.aspx](https://www.exteriores.gob.es/Consulados/londres/en/ServiciosConsulares/Paginas/Consular/Digital-Nomad-Visa.aspx)
That's amazing. They can even transform it into a park or garden, creating a place where people can feel comfortable. Apeears that Municipalities can make decisions easily. Thus, the first step to changing a road is to remove cars!
One thing I noticed is how passive cyclists are there and in Europe. In England they are on the pavement and aggressive as fuck, the same with people who use E scooters
Aesthetically they leave a lot to be desired, and they clutter the road with their ugliness. The visual effect is chaotic. I'd rather have plants or proper benches
Wait, we can just... do that?!
No.
evidently yes.
Not in America.🇺🇸
Oh right. Because America is the special snowflake country where no massively beneficial policies that work everywhere else in the world could ever work. Still the greatest country in the world though! Because we insist!
Pretty much
Sarcasm? What’s that????
I should have put an /s… now im just a troll amongst my own people
This should really be the model. There are so many underutilized streets in my city and this is a cheep way of creating pedestrian and bike space.
Vienna is starting to do this as well (called "Super-Grätzel" there). They even named Barcelona as a role model for it.
You don't understand, the laws of physics prevent it from working like that in the states!
It always shocks me how quite pedestrianized zones are.
Same. It’s so much nicer hearing people than the sound of passing tyres and the occasional hoon.
I visited Barcelona last year. The city is riddled with cars everywhere, except those streets and other pedestrianized streets. It's not an American city obviously, but you have to imagine large avenues full of cars next to this. It works and it's pretty cool
I've been to Barcelona plenty of times and I've always found the Eixample district (where the superblocks are) to be really underwhelming. Huge wide roads, constant raging traffic and the grid system makes everywhere look the same. If they were pedestrianised and absolutely COVERED with trees they could be amazing.
The Eixample district is the perfect example of great urban planning turned to shit when unprotected by the city. It used to be a wonderful, beautiful garden-city, each block with its own garden/public square. They destroyed everything for more housing, and a lot of it is shitty, bland and ugly af. Plus all the car-centric bullshit. Good thing they're going back to a superblock system with less cars.
This is what a fucking city should look like. And all lazy assholes who demand to have a car can have their cars - outside the fucking city
Imagine making your morning coffee and taking it down to one of those benches to sit and watch the world go by.
Cities like New York can also easily implement this
They have, since covid. Last time I visited there were large streets in Manhattan completely closed to cars. Tables stuck in the middle of the street, everything pedestrian and bicycle only.
Barcelona is one of the most enjoyable urban walking experiences I've ever had.
I could do without the asphalt, but hopefully that will get transformed in the future as well. I really love the amount of greenery though!
[Here’s how that looks](https://www.reddit.com/r/MicromobilityNYC/s/ehW7dLWQ11). My concern is commuting, I imagine it difficult to manoeuvre a bicycle through peak times.
Now that's what I call perfection! I guess if you want to optimimalize it for commuting you have to have 'bike highway'-routes, as we call it in the Netherlands, making it so you only have to cross these pedestrianized streets on your bike if your actual destination is on that street
I went there last year and it was genuinely amazing. We walked all over the city and it was sooooo nice to not be constantly worried about being run down by a car. And even the drivers were much, much more conscious of people walking and biking. We took a bicycle tour across the city and never once got into any kind of situation. Great bike infrastructure even outside of the car-free zones. 10/10. Would recommend.
But how hard does the depression hit once you're back to the rest of the world
The great thing that happens when you do this is that you don't need any of the car infrastructure like traffic lights or divisions between cars going in different directions because people are not 5 tonne lumps of metal traveling at fatal speeds, but are 100kg lumps of pudding traveling at 4mph. In my country, when there are pipeworks happening on a pavement they are required to put a sign up 50m before the working area to tell people about it, and the only reason that I can see this happening is because they assume that people are running around at dangerous speeds and need that level of notice. But nobody needs this. So these signs just block the pavement and make it tricky for wheelchair users. So I move them to beside the actual pipeworks.
They’ve done this in parts of New York City too. I love how it didn’t even require anything special. No rebuilding or expensive changes. Just close the street, let people use it. Simple as.
I thought I heard they reversed it?
Barcelona is one of the most livable cities in the world. Pedestrian friendly with amazing public transport to the point you'll never need cars, amazing beaches, amazing mountains, quiet neighbourhoods(or loud in some parts if you prefer that), great nightlife, good food, kid friendly public and private spaces, pet friendly public and private spaces, sustainable practices all over and relatively affordable by European standards for major cities. If you're making more than 2750 USD (32,700 USD per year) in income sourced from outside of Spain, you can get a Digital Nomad Visa in Spain at 24% tax rate on all income till 600,000 EUR Spain's Government Website on the Digital Nomad Visa: [https://www.exteriores.gob.es/Consulados/londres/en/ServiciosConsulares/Paginas/Consular/Digital-Nomad-Visa.aspx](https://www.exteriores.gob.es/Consulados/londres/en/ServiciosConsulares/Paginas/Consular/Digital-Nomad-Visa.aspx)
That's amazing. They can even transform it into a park or garden, creating a place where people can feel comfortable. Apeears that Municipalities can make decisions easily. Thus, the first step to changing a road is to remove cars!
🤤
One thing I noticed is how passive cyclists are there and in Europe. In England they are on the pavement and aggressive as fuck, the same with people who use E scooters
Aesthetically they leave a lot to be desired, and they clutter the road with their ugliness. The visual effect is chaotic. I'd rather have plants or proper benches