San Ysidro Super Block Research

Upon our initial site analysis, of San Ysidro a few key factors stood out to us that we fell we needed to

address moving forward on our master plan. Some of the big issues we saw were lack of green/public

spaces and lack of places for community engagement. Other issues we noticed were sound pollution

due to the freeway and lack of density and greenery to alleviate some of that, this along with the air

pollution created due to traffic at the border. While these are issues, we noticed the city does already

have some key things that can be taken advantage of like its trolley system, public transit, its history and

heritage, and it already being already a somewhat walkable city. While it is what one may consider

walkable, there is still a lack of signage and pedestrian “safe” pathways.

To address these issues, we looked to Barcelona and their concept of the super block. The main concept

of the super block is to take a nine square block of the city (not necessarily but ideal) Rather than all

being traffic permitted on all the streets between and among these blocks, cordon off a permitted and

keep through traffic, freight, and city busses on that. The aim being to increase sustainable mobility,

revitalization of public spaces, promotion of social fabric and social cohesion, and promotion of urban

green areas.