such as collective kitchens, laundries, or cybercafés to ensure a cheaper access to basic needs.
More specifically, in order to care for senior citizens, the harmonization of the housing‐public space binomial in superblocks is needed in order to produce a ‘distributed old people's home’ model. In light of what has been detailed here and the circumstances that have come about due to the COVID‐19 crisis, it is more pertinent than ever to ensure that a dependent elderly person who needs care can receive at home all of the services that would be given in a ‘room in a old people's home, domiciliary hospitalisation or a social‐healthcare centre’. And, outside the home, through existing neighbourhood assets and local facilities in their superblocks (also with digital technological support) they should be provided with ‘common services to old people's home or day centres’. It is possible that the radical transformation that traditional elderly care homes would have to undergo would mean that the distributed‐residency model would have greater weight. However the former would have the opportunity to become logistics hubs that would provide services for households in the area.
Beyond what is considered here, other opportunities associated with superblocks could be planned. To briefly mention two more: their contribution to the city's ecological and economic transformation (developing a green and cooperative local economy to also recover from economic crisis) or the fostering of direct‐democracy processes concerning aspects of the superblocks, giving a voice to groups that are de facto or de iure silenced (from children to people with disabilities or migrants in an irregular administrative situation).
We are living in a time when cities have to redesign not just their physical models but also their social models. An envisioning of inclusive urbanism can help cities to become as resilient as possible to the impacts of demographic transition, the new digital revolution, economic recessions, and the ecological crisis (from the proliferation of pandemics to times of climate catastrophes and the scarcity of resources). Without renouncing their responsibilities, public administrations cannot (there will never be enough resources) and should not (if the objective is to attain resilient communities) act alone. Barcelona's experience vouches for the advantages of the proximity approach. The transformation of services and projects based on the logic of superblocks is a commitment to making progress in that direction. It is an invitation to undertake a process of creative reconstruction of the city's current social model.
References
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