Small steps, big change: designing superblocks and resilience in Barcelona and Melbourne

15 May 2025
05:30pm - 06:30pm
FREE
Melbourne City
Green Brain, RMIT University

In this special event for Melbourne Design Week, Salvador Rueda Palenzuela – international urban ecologist, placemaking expert and one of the pioneers of the Barcelona Superblocks – will join RMIT Professor Marco Amati in conversation.

Superblocks or superilles in Catalan are an urban sustainability design approach pioneered in Barcelona to transform city places, spaces and mobility. They are internationally recognised for design that prioritises people over cars, deepening community participation, engagement and cohesion. 

Salvador Rueda Palenzeula and Professor Amati's discussion will explore what an urban superblock design could mean for Melbourne and how the city can become more climate resilient through small steps leading to big change.

A spokesperson for the environment across many decades, Salvador has developed a coherent ecological theory of urbanism which continues to resonate. He has directed more than 400 urban and territorial projects in 144 cities around the world, addressing the interaction of different elements within cities that affect the potential for environmental remediation.

Currently Director and President of the Urban Ecology and Territorial Foundation, Salvador has dedicated his career to addressing the escalating climate crisis, using his expertise to build understanding and to actively transform city places, spaces and mobility. His work has helped improve health and safety as a direct outcome of prioritising people and community and rethinking the way transport and human activity operates within a city.

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Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

Learn more about our commitment to Indigenous cultures

Small steps, big change: designing superblocks and resilience in Barcelona and Melbourne