Small Steps for Big Change: the Potential for Superblocks to Create Resilient Streets in a Low-density Noneuropean City

Cities around the world are a empting to respond to a range of challenges, such as climate change, air pollution, overreliance on private vehicles, obesity, mental health, and, more recently, the threat of pandemics. One solution is to increase household and population density. This paper examines a response to some of these challenges in the context of Ōtautahi Christchurch, a city of 350,000 people in Aotearoa, New Zealand. It is a city with a low population density and high car use. It experienced a series of damaging earthquakes in 2010/11 that created an opportunity to re-think its design. This led to aspirations to increase density and reduce the reliance of private cars. One potential solution planners are considering is the use of Barcelona style 'Superblocks'. The questions, comments, and conversations from a series of meetings and workshops on Superblocks in 2024 have been used to help understand how Superblocks could work in Ōtautahi Christchurch. These meetings revealed that Superblocks could deliver multiple positive urban regeneration outcomes in a lowdensity, high-car use city, but that systemic, but not necessarily expensive, changes will be needed.