Urban Ecological Interaction: Air, Water, Light and New Transit at the Human Scale of Barcelona’s Superilles
As everyday transit options are shifting from autocentric to pedestrian and bicycle oriented modes for healthy living, downtown streets are becoming more attractive places to live. However, tools and methods to measure the natural environment at the small scale of streets do not exist. Fortunately, a combination of mobile data collection technology and parametric urban design software now allows an interface to relate urban ecological conditions. This paper describes creation of an interactive tool to measure urban phenomena of air, water, and heat/light at the scale of new three-by-three block pedestrianized areas in Barcelona called Superilles. Each Superilla limits transit to the exterior of the blocks and to create more walkable and bikeable interior streets for healthy living. The research will describe the integration of data collection, analysis, and design output via a live interface using parametric software Rhino Grasshopper and the Human User Interface (UI) plugin.
[1] Mathiesen, K (2015) “Where’s the world’s most polluted city?” The Guardian, Cities, Extreme Cities, 2 December 2015 (source of data was World Health Organization, annual mean concentration of particulate matter with diameter of 2.5 microns or less. Micrograms per cubic metre).
[2] Sunyer J, Esnaola M, Alvarez-Pedrerol M, Forns J, Rivas I and López-Vicente M (2015) “Association between Traffic-Related Air Pollution in Schools and Cognitive Development in Primary School Children: A Prospective Cohort Study.” PLoS Med 12(3): e1001792.
[3] Mostafavi, M. and Doherty, G. (2010) Ecological Urbanism, New York: Lars Müller Publishers.
[4] Minguillón M.C., Cirach M., Hoek G., Brunekreef B., Tsai M., de Hoogh K., Jedynska A., Kooter I. M., Nieuwenhuijsen M., Querol X., (2014) “Spatial variability of trace elements and sources for improved exposure assessment in Barcelona,” Atmospheric Environment 89, 268-281.
[5] Rueda, S. (2012) Guia Metodológica Para los Sistemas de Auditoría Certificación o Acreditación de la Calidad y Sostenibilidad del Medio Ambiente Urban. Centro de Publicaciones Secretaría General Técnica Ministerio de Fomento, Madrid, Spain.
[6] Agencia d’Ecologia Urbana de Barcelona (2016) Supermanzana: Una nova cèl·lula urbana per a un nou model funcional i urbanístic de la ciutat, powerpoint presentation online, last accessed 8/23/2016)
[7] Author (2015) “Social Interaction and Cohesion Tool: A Geospatial Analysis Tool to Develop Small Urban Planning for Barcelona’s Superilles” Computational Ecologies: Design in the Anthropocene, Association of Computer-Aided Design in Architecture Conference 2015, October 19-25, 2015, Cincinnati, Ohio.
[8] Author (ND) “A human-scaled of GIS: Measuring and visualizing social interaction in streets of Barcelona’s new Superilla urban units,” unpublished.
[9] Savall, C. (2016) “La ‘superilla’ divide al Poblenou,” El periodico, September 12, 2016.
[10] Speranza, P. and Viader M. (2015), “High Resolution Air Quality and Urban Design, “International Journal of Design Sciences and Technology, Special Issue Europia 2014, EIA-14, Editors: Reza Beheshti and Khaldoun Zreik, Paris: Europia Production, Volume 22, No. 1, 2015.
[11] Heumann, A., Syp, M. and Holland, N., 2016, Human UI software, NBBJ Design Computation.
[12] Rueda, S. (1995) Ecologia Urbana, Barcelona: Beta.
[13] Flos, J. (2005), El concepto de informacion en la ecologia margalefiana, Ecosistemas. 2005/1.
[14] Folch, R. (2012) Ambiente, Emocion y Etica, Barcelona: RBA Press, ISBN 9788490063194
[15] Querol, X., Alastuey, A., Rodriguez, S., Plana, F., Ruiz, C.R., Cots, N., Massagué, G., Puig, O. (2001), PM10 and PM2.5 source apportionment in the Barcelona Metropolitan area, Catalonia, Spain. Atmospheric Environment 35, 6407e6419.
[16] Moreno, T. Reche, C., Rivas, E., Minguillon, M, Marins, V, Vargas, C., Buonanno, Giorgio, Parga, J, Pandolfi, M., Brines, M., Ealo, m., Fonseca, A., Amato, F., Sosa, G., Capdevila, M., de Miguel, E., Querol, X, Gibbons, W. (2015), Urban air quality comparison for bus, tram, subway and pedestrian commutes in Barcelona. Environmental Research 142 (2015) 495-510. Elsevier.
[17] Nabian, N., Offenhuber, D., Vanky A., and Ratti, C., (2013) "Data dimension: accessing urban data and making it accessible." Proceedings of the ICE-Urban Design and Planning 166, no. 1, 60-75.
[18] Holzman, J. and Cantrell B., “Synthetic Ecologies: Protocols, Simulation, and Manipulation for Indeterminate Landscapes,” in: ACADIA 2014 Proceedings, Design Agency, Los Angeles, 2014.
[19] Evans, M. R. et al., (2013) “Do Simple Models Lead to Generality in Ecology?” Trends in Ecology & Evolution, no. 10, 2013.
[20] Rahm, Philippe, (2014) “Future Landscapes of Spatial Details: An Interview with Philippe Rahm” Architectural Design, Volume 84, Issue 4, July/August 2014, pages 78-85, Hoboken: Wiley.
[21] US Green Building Council GBC. (2012). LEED 2009 for Neighborhood Development. Washington, DC: USGBC.
[22] Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (2008)
[23] Larco, N. (2015) “Sustainable Urban Design – A (Draft) Framework,” Journal of Urban Design. London: Taylor and Francis.
[24] Kamur, P., Morawska, L., Martani, C., Biskos, G., Neophytou, M., Sabatino, S., Bell, M., Norford, L. and Britter, R. (2015) “The rise of low-cost sensing for managing air pollution in cities,” Environment International 75 (2015) 199-205.
[25] El Periodico (2016) “La Primera ‘Superilla’, En Septiembre,” El Periodico, August 20, 2016, Barcelona.
[1] Mathiesen, K (2015) “Where’s the world’s most polluted city?” The Guardian, Cities, Extreme Cities, 2 December 2015 (source of data was World Health Organization, annual mean concentration of particulate matter with diameter of 2.5 microns or less. Micrograms per cubic metre).
[2] Sunyer J, Esnaola M, Alvarez-Pedrerol M, Forns J, Rivas I and López-Vicente M (2015) “Association between Traffic-Related Air Pollution in Schools and Cognitive Development in Primary School Children: A Prospective Cohort Study.” PLoS Med 12(3): e1001792.
[3] Mostafavi, M. and Doherty, G. (2010) Ecological Urbanism, New York: Lars Müller Publishers.
[4] Minguillón M.C., Cirach M., Hoek G., Brunekreef B., Tsai M., de Hoogh K., Jedynska A., Kooter I. M., Nieuwenhuijsen M., Querol X., (2014) “Spatial variability of trace elements and sources for improved exposure assessment in Barcelona,” Atmospheric Environment 89, 268-281.
[5] Rueda, S. (2012) Guia Metodológica Para los Sistemas de Auditoría Certificación o Acreditación de la Calidad y Sostenibilidad del Medio Ambiente Urban. Centro de Publicaciones Secretaría General Técnica Ministerio de Fomento, Madrid, Spain.
[6] Agencia d’Ecologia Urbana de Barcelona (2016) Supermanzana: Una nova cèl·lula urbana per a un nou model funcional i urbanístic de la ciutat, powerpoint presentation online, last accessed 8/23/2016)
[7] Author (2015) “Social Interaction and Cohesion Tool: A Geospatial Analysis Tool to Develop Small Urban Planning for Barcelona’s Superilles” Computational Ecologies: Design in the Anthropocene, Association of Computer-Aided Design in Architecture Conference 2015, October 19-25, 2015, Cincinnati, Ohio.
[8] Author (ND) “A human-scaled of GIS: Measuring and visualizing social interaction in streets of Barcelona’s new Superilla urban units,” unpublished.
[9] Savall, C. (2016) “La ‘superilla’ divide al Poblenou,” El periodico, September 12, 2016.
[10] Speranza, P. and Viader M. (2015), “High Resolution Air Quality and Urban Design, “International Journal of Design Sciences and Technology, Special Issue Europia 2014, EIA-14, Editors: Reza Beheshti and Khaldoun Zreik, Paris: Europia Production, Volume 22, No. 1, 2015.
[11] Heumann, A., Syp, M. and Holland, N., 2016, Human UI software, NBBJ Design Computation.
[12] Rueda, S. (1995) Ecologia Urbana, Barcelona: Beta.
[13] Flos, J. (2005), El concepto de informacion en la ecologia margalefiana, Ecosistemas. 2005/1.
[14] Folch, R. (2012) Ambiente, Emocion y Etica, Barcelona: RBA Press, ISBN 9788490063194
[15] Querol, X., Alastuey, A., Rodriguez, S., Plana, F., Ruiz, C.R., Cots, N., Massagué, G., Puig, O. (2001), PM10 and PM2.5 source apportionment in the Barcelona Metropolitan area, Catalonia, Spain. Atmospheric Environment 35, 6407e6419.
[16] Moreno, T. Reche, C., Rivas, E., Minguillon, M, Marins, V, Vargas, C., Buonanno, Giorgio, Parga, J, Pandolfi, M., Brines, M., Ealo, m., Fonseca, A., Amato, F., Sosa, G., Capdevila, M., de Miguel, E., Querol, X, Gibbons, W. (2015), Urban air quality comparison for bus, tram, subway and pedestrian commutes in Barcelona. Environmental Research 142 (2015) 495-510. Elsevier.
[17] Nabian, N., Offenhuber, D., Vanky A., and Ratti, C., (2013) "Data dimension: accessing urban data and making it accessible." Proceedings of the ICE-Urban Design and Planning 166, no. 1, 60-75.
[18] Holzman, J. and Cantrell B., “Synthetic Ecologies: Protocols, Simulation, and Manipulation for Indeterminate Landscapes,” in: ACADIA 2014 Proceedings, Design Agency, Los Angeles, 2014.
[19] Evans, M. R. et al., (2013) “Do Simple Models Lead to Generality in Ecology?” Trends in Ecology & Evolution, no. 10, 2013.
[20] Rahm, Philippe, (2014) “Future Landscapes of Spatial Details: An Interview with Philippe Rahm” Architectural Design, Volume 84, Issue 4, July/August 2014, pages 78-85, Hoboken: Wiley.
[21] US Green Building Council GBC. (2012). LEED 2009 for Neighborhood Development. Washington, DC: USGBC.
[22] Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (2008)
[23] Larco, N. (2015) “Sustainable Urban Design – A (Draft) Framework,” Journal of Urban Design. London: Taylor and Francis.
[24] Kamur, P., Morawska, L., Martani, C., Biskos, G., Neophytou, M., Sabatino, S., Bell, M., Norford, L. and Britter, R. (2015) “The rise of low-cost sensing for managing air pollution in cities,” Environment International 75 (2015) 199-205.
[25] El Periodico (2016) “La Primera ‘Superilla’, En Septiembre,” El Periodico, August 20, 2016, Barcelona.
@article{"International Journal of Architectural, Civil and Construction Sciences:74503", author = "Philip Speranza", title = "Urban Ecological Interaction: Air, Water, Light and New Transit at the Human Scale of Barcelona’s Superilles ", abstract = "As everyday transit options are shifting from autocentric to pedestrian and bicycle oriented modes for healthy living, downtown streets are becoming more attractive places to live. However, tools and methods to measure the natural environment at the small scale of streets do not exist. Fortunately, a combination of mobile data collection technology and parametric urban design software now allows an interface to relate urban ecological conditions. This paper describes creation of an interactive tool to measure urban phenomena of air, water, and heat/light at the scale of new three-by-three block pedestrianized areas in Barcelona called Superilles. Each Superilla limits transit to the exterior of the blocks and to create more walkable and bikeable interior streets for healthy living. The research will describe the integration of data collection, analysis, and design output via a live interface using parametric software Rhino Grasshopper and the Human User Interface (UI) plugin.
", keywords = "Transit, urban design, GIS, parametric design, Superilles, Barcelona, urban ecology.", volume = "10", number = "12", pages = "1616-10", }
