The political price of superblocks

Urban and transportation policies are increasingly recognized for their potential to mitigate climate change impacts and address transport externalities. Amidst efforts to shift modal preferences and reduce transport emissions, cities are turning to spatialbased policies, such as Superblocks, to res...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Marquet, Oriol|||0000-0002-7346-5664, Fernández Núñez, Marta Beatriz|||0009-0005-4497-3757, Maciejewska, Monika Wiktoria|||0000-0003-4368-0803
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2024
País:España
Institución:Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona
Repositorio:Dipòsit Digital de Documents de la UAB
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ddd.uab.cat:294023
Acceso en línea:https://ddd.uab.cat/record/294023
https://dx.doi.org/urn:doi:10.1016/j.envint.2024.108789
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Electoral analysis
Policy evaluation
Superblocks
Sustainable urban planning
Urban policy acceptability
Descripción
Sumario:Urban and transportation policies are increasingly recognized for their potential to mitigate climate change impacts and address transport externalities. Amidst efforts to shift modal preferences and reduce transport emissions, cities are turning to spatialbased policies, such as Superblocks, to reshape urban mobility. This research examines the electoral outcomes associated with the implementation of Superblocks in Barcelona, focusing on their impact on political support for Barcelona en Comú (BEC) during the local elections of 2015 and 2023. Utilizing a combination of adjusted difference-in-differences and propensity score matching methods, we assessed the public's electoral response to the Superblock initiative amidst a backdrop of declining city-wide support for BEC. Our findings reveal that Superblock areas demonstrated significantly stronger support for BEC, suggesting a political premium for the party responsible for these urban interventions. Specifically, electoral support in Superblock districts saw an increase of 10-14% compared to the rest of the city. This result highlights the potential of urban transformation policies to influence political preferences locally and potentially validate the use of local electoral data as a tool for evaluating public response to highly contested urban policies.