LET’S PROTECT THE SCHOOLS

Project

304044

Status

Submitted

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NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS AWARDS: existing completed examples

Project title

LET’S PROTECT THE SCHOOLS

Full project title

Description

What is a protected school?

It is the transformation of the school environment, placing the safety and welfare of children at the centre through various actions:

• Peacefulness of the traffic in the school environment
• Improving access to schools
• Expansion of living areas and green areas, incorporating new urban furniture

We present to the award one of the interventions of the programme carried out during 2021, the Lavinia school located in Les Corts district.

What was the geographical scope of your project?

Does your project address mainly urban or rural issues?

Does your project refer to a physical transformation of the built environment or other types of transformations?

Has your project benefited from EU programmes or funds?

Has your project won an EU prize?

Your project is fully completed?

When was your project implemented?

How did you hear about the New European Bauhaus Prizes ?

On whose behalf are you submitting the application?

Please provide a summary of your project

Children spend a lot of time in schools, which is why they become the most sensitive spaces in the city. Environmental pollution, both air and noise; the poor conditions of public spaces and road insecurity can pose more serious risks in these spaces. Therefore, streets in their surrounding must be protected as a priority and placed at the centre of all urban policies. Barcelona, with Let’s protect schools is moving towards a new urban model in which schools must be central elements and of special attention in public space. Schools as the priority axis of all actions to transform public space to pacify the city, improve air quality, reduce environmental noise, reduce accidents, and generate more meeting spaces, and the benefits of these actions are wide and for all the citizens.

The project has implemented a diverse set of street re-designs, each tailored to meet the specific needs of the particular school environment. The project works towards the street calming or street closure of the urban space of a total of 200 schools and nurseries by 2023, with actions that reduce accidents, create friendlier and greener meeting spaces, and improve the environmental quality of school surroundings. In short, Barcelona City Council aims to make schools and their surroundings a safe and liveable place. In the period 2020-2022, action is being taken at 155 schools in the city. This program is being gradually extended to all schools in Barcelona (near 600 in total). The selection and prioritization of schools is done in coordination with all the municipal areas involved and the following criteria are considered: prioritization schools of children from 0 to 12 years; schools in complicated points of road safety; with high environmental pollution, both air and noise; schools with greatest need for improvement of their environment.

Schools are distributed throughout the city, so this project is changing the urban environment throughout Barcelona.

Please indicate the main themes of your project with 5 key words

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of sustainability (including circularity) and how these have been met.
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context

The city of Barcelona is compact, with high residential density, an old housing stock, with a shortage of green spaces and a mobility system that is over-dependent on motor vehicles. They are all factors that have a negative effect on its environmental conditions.

To reverse those factors, improve the city’s environmental conditions and move towards a new urban model, it is essential that the climate variable is included in all urban management and transformation processes, whether they involve public spaces or urban fabrics.

By 2050 we want to be a city with balanced neighbourhoods that foster habits of short distances and healthy mobility, with a much more efficient and sustainable building stock. We want a comfortable, traffic-calmed city with lots of green spaces that contribute to people’s good health and well-being, and biodiversity

Barcelona City Council advocates a more sustainable city model that tackles the Climate Emergency as well as challenge of improving the quality of people's lives, making the city more liveable and healthier. With the paradigm shift and the reversed priority of space for vehicles becoming public areas, the city is freeing up space for social use. In fact, through ‘Let’s protect schools’ project the city government is putting children’s health and safety in the centre of its policies.

Barcelona approved on 2018 a Climate Plan, which is a cross-sectional plan that includes 242 actions until 2030. It is a strategic plan with proposals to mitigate the effects of climate change, adaptation projects, climate justice and the promotion of citizen participation. ‘Let’s protect schools’ is meant to fight against the climate emergency by reducing the car use, to improve air quality and noise impact around schools and to advance in urban planning with a gender perspective that places the needs of daily life in the centre. This program is being gradually extended to all schools in Barcelona and starting in its metropolitan area too.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience beyond functionality and how these have been met.
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context

The project seeks reducing the space previously dedicated to cars and integrate the new space for pedestrians and for playing. To reach the improvement of schools surrounding within Let’s protect schools, solutions are designed and adapted to the needs of each centre, always offering comfortable living areas with more vegetation and shade.

The actions are based on two types of measures:

• Traffic calming: to improve safety conditions, new signalization is designed and implemented, driving speed is limited to maximum 30 km/h and parking around the schools for motorized vehicles is prohibited. Lighting is improved and safety elements are installed. Volunteer traffic control program is implemented at the time of entry and exit of class.
• Improvement of habitability: to reach the improvement of public space, actions are combining both tactical (paint and flexible elements) and structural urbanism, depending on local conditions and with the objective of adapting the best to local needs in every school. At the access and exit points of the centres, square spaces are created with a surface area minimum 10 meters in diameter, where flexible and beautiful street furniture is placed to invite people to walk quietly and carry out activities.

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of inclusion (equal opportunities, public participation, citizen engagement, co-design, universal design, accessibility, affordability, etc.) and how these have been met.
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context

The projects of Let’s protect schools’ initiative are worked exhaustively with a participatory process with all the schools, carrying out participatory sessions. Co-creation processes with children and families are also proposed to involve the educational community along the decision-making. Also, to make the speed reduction effective, the situation in the environment of each school has been specifically analysed in order to determine the most appropriate measures for each situation to make public space the most accessible possible.

As results of this program, in terms of Inclusion there are different benefits to consider:

• Empowering people, particularly children and the elderly, given the fear that traffic generates.
• Fostering of intergenerational relationships through public areas where people can meet and do leisure activities.
• Strengthening the emotional bonds of people with their environment; increasing public safety by increasing vitality in the streets.
• More space available for physical exercise. 

Please explain how these three dimensions have been combined in your project.
Please highlight how this approach can be exemplary

The actions from Let’s protect schools’ program have improved safety and quality of life around schools for everyone. Accessibility by foot and bike to the nurseries, schools and high schools has been improved, while access by motorized traffic is now more difficult. On the other hand, new spaces to stay and play in public space are now available. These new spaces have created the possibility for families and neighbours to enjoy the public space, to spend time just chatting, eating some snacks, or playing.

All these new activities have a direct impact on strengthen the local communities, and this fact becomes very clear just by observing the uses of the new public space dedicated to people.

Please give information on the results/impacts achieved by your project in relation to the category you apply for

The program is addressed to create safer and healthier school environments. In Barcelona there are 196.000 students up to 18 years old, and a total population of 1,7M inhabitants.

In the period 2020-2021, the project has improved the situation around 102 schools, directly benefitting 36.300 students, by gaining 18.000 m2 from asphalt to give it back to people, creating 70 playgrounds, 290 benches, 850 greenery pots and 350 bike racks. All these new spaces for pedestrians and for staying / playing are generating empowerment also local communities.

These actions in the period 20-21 have made 14 car lanes disappear and have created 17 new pedestrian streets and 4 new bus lanes. Speed limit around the schools is now 20 km/h in local streets, and 30 km/h in main streets. There are 12 new radars to check speed around schools.

These new spaces generated for people are not only used by school communities, but they are also used by neighbourhood and workers in the area. The fact that schools are spread along the city makes the actions of the program very significant: in the end, this project is traffic – calming the whole Barcelona! So, when the program reaches the 585 schools, the impact on environmental conditions and safety will be clear in the whole city.

Please explain how citizens and civil society were involved in the in the design and/or implementation of the project.
Please also explain the benefits that derived from their involvement.

Involving local and school communities is crucial to design the newly generated spaces. Participatory processes are centred at mainly 3 key moments:

• Before starting the project, to collect local needs
• Before the project is completely designed, to include improvements
• After the project is implemented, to evaluate its results

Neighbourhoods are also informed during local neighbourhood meetings (called ‘consells de barri’), to incorporate their visions and needs.

In parallel, there are several interventions from the different city operators to incorporate their technical requirements (mobility, emergency services, cleaning service, etc)

Please explain what kind of global challenges the project addressed by providing local solutions

Climate Emergency, air pollution, noise, traffic accidents, lack of greenery and sedentary lifestile are global challenges for the cities in the world but affecting specifically Barcelona city. The program ‘Let’s Protect Schools’ tackles all these challenges by improving the quality of people's lives, making the school surroundings more liveable and healthier. At each spot local solutions are implemented basically by freeing up space for social use. This new space represents less cars and more greenery, so in the end, less CO2 emissions, less noise, less pollution, less accidents and less sedentarism (more space for physical exercise but also for active mobility). Just by removing cars from cities all these challenges can be addressed.

Please highlight the innovative character of the project as compared to mainstream practices in the field of the project.

To improve comfortability new urban furniture and greenery is implemented. Local prestigious design schools (such as Elisava and IAAC) are working through different projects from ‘Let’s Protect Schools’ (EIT – Furnish) to co-create innovative elements to play and enjoy the new available public space by involving school communities, with the participation of families during weekends to implement the actions.

Please explain to the potential of transferring the projects’ results or learnings to other interested parties and contexts.
Please provide clear documentation, communication of methodology and principles in this context.

This Project is following current trends in many cities of the world. From Barcelona City Council we’ve been exchanging experiences and results about protecting schools with cities such as London, Paris or Milano.

But the most significant impact of Let’s protect schools project is that the 35 other municipalities that perform the Barcelona Metropolitan Area (with a total of 3,3M inhabitants) are now in touch with Barcelona City Council in order to spread the initiative and the actions in their schools.

Is an evaluation report or any relevant documentation available?

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