IN-PERSON Barcelona Livable Cities. Section A
Abstract
The Superblock model in Barcelona has been an innovative urban strategy that aims to return public urban spaces to their citizens, recovering their cultural, economic, and social roles, emphasizing the local and neighbourhood scale. These goals are achieved by aggregating several street blocks and converting the internal streets into pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly spaces, the main traffic was redirected to the Superblock perimeter. To evaluate the social impact of this urban regeneration plan, soundwalks were performed in the Poblenou, Sant Antoni and Sant Gervasi Superblocks. Participants evaluated the soundscape perception in different locations by answering a questionnaire on the Hush City App. Meanwhile, a 5-minute-long recording was acquired at each stop to compare the subjective responses to objective acoustic parameters. The stops of the soundwalks were chosen to assess the soundscape in the heart of the Superblocks and around, including some gardens and regenerated traffic intersections, and near its borders where the traffic is still very present. The subjective collected data has been contrasted with objective data (i.e., LAeq, Roughness and Sharpness) and comparisons were carried out among the three neighbourhoods. We observe differences on people’s perception between the stops located inside and along the borders of the Superblocks, highlighting the importance of observing citizens’ perceptions in urban planning employing a soundwalk.
Aline Ramos Esperidião: PhD student in the Civil Engineering Postgraduate Program at the Federal University of Technology – Parana (UTFPR) doing a research visit at La Salle – Universitat Ramon Llull. Master’s degree in Civil Engineering from the Federal University of Technology – Parana (UTFPR). Graduated in Civil Engineering from the State University of Ponta Grossa (2014). Her research field is neighborhood satisfaction and the relationship between the urban environment and user perception, with an emphasis on improving the quality of life in neighborhoods.
Andrea Potenza graduated from the University of Milano-Bicocca (Italy), with a Master’s degree in Science and Technology for the Environment and the Territory (2022). He is now a PhD Student of the Acoustic Laboratory of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. His research field is ecoacoustics, and he is currently characterizing the soundscape of green urban areas and areas undergoing urban regeneration plans.
Dr. Ester Vidaña-Vila received her PhD in Information Technologies and their application to Management, Architecture and Geophysics from La Salle – Ramon Llull University (URL) in 2022. Graduated in Audiovisual Systems Engineering (2017) and Master in Telecommunications (2018) from the same university. Her research focuses on audio signal processing and the detection and classification of acoustic events in real time using machine learning and deep learning algorithms.
Dr. Valentina Zaffaroni-Caorsi graduated in 2012 in Biological Science, followed by a Master’s (2014) and PhD (2018) in Animal Biology. She is currently with a post-doc position at University of Milan-Bicocca, Italy. The researcher has focused her career on the bioacoustics, eco-acoustics and soundscape fields, with international experience in different working groups and countries.
Dr. Rosa Ma Alsina-Pagès is nowadays Director of Research and Innovation of La Salle Campus Barcelona. Dr. Alsina-Pagès is a Engineer in Electronics and Telecommunications (2002 and 2004 respectively), from La Salle-URL, Graduate in Humanities from the UOC (2012), Master in Project Management from La Salle – URL (2003). She is also a Doctor in ICT and its management by the URL, with Cum Laude, in 2012. She is Associate Professor at the Department of Engineering, La Salle – Universitat Ramon Llull.
2:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Friday 18th July, 2025