An Urban Revolution to Transform City Life with Salvador Rueda (Christchurch Conversations)

We all want a more enjoyable city to live in - a city that supports biodiversity, more sustainable and healthy ways of living, greater social connection and life in public spaces for all people. In this talk, leading urbanist Salvador Rueda shares the concept of ‘Superblocks’ - a simple but revolutionary tool Barcelona is adopting to transform city life. Hear from the originator of this dynamic approach to improving cities and consider how it might be applicable in our own city of Ōtautahi Christchurch. -- Salvador Rueda is one of the world’s most significant urban placemakers. His work has focused on different aspects of the urban environment from an integrated perspective. He has been coordinator of renovation and revitalisation programmes in the Ciutat Vella (Old City) district of Barcelona, and since 2000 has been director of the Urban Ecology Agency of Barcelona, which has worked on a number of projects aimed at reorienting cities towards a more sustainable model. He is probably most famous for inventing Barcelona’s Superblocks which, simply put, take street space traditionally devoted solely to motor vehicles and open it up to multiple uses (walking, cycling, play, markets etc) by managing vehicle access. These have resulted in some amazing outcomes and Salvador now advises on their implementation in cities and towns across Europe and the Americas. -- The Christchurch Conversations 2024 programme is supported by the Christchurch City Council through the Sustainability Fund and has the curatorial support of Amanda Yates from AUT He Puna Ora Regenerative Action Lab. Salvador Rueda’s visit to Ōtautahi supported by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency and the University of Canterbury.