Soundwalking in the Superblocks of Barcelona: An Analysis Focused on Citizen’s Perception in Three Neighborhoods

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.