The UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call for the provision of universal access to: (a) safe, inclusive, and accessible green and public spaces, and (b) safe, affordable, accessible, and sustainable transport systems for all. The Barcelona green axes plan aims to transform one third of the streets within its 19th century extension grid, increasing the tree cover and the vegetation, adopting sustainable urban drainage systems, limiting motor traffic, and providing a safer and more comfortable environment for pedestrians, cyclists, and other social activities in healthier environments. These transformations become even greater at the intersection of the axes, where former traffic junctions are becoming squares and urban gardens. This study gives an in-depth analysis of the origins of the superblocks plan, the rationale behind the transformation, and the implementation process. The GIS-based analysis shows how the green axes and the new square gardens (a) transform the city’s disconnected urban green areas into a more interconnected green infrastructure system, and (b) significantly increase accessibility to green areas. The study reveals this strategy’s potential to create a city of proximity, improve the well-being of the population, and build a more equitable city, which could be a useful tool for planning and decision making at both city and regional levels.

Access to green spaces offers numerous benefits to citizens and is key to achieving environmental justice. This article explores accessibility to green infrastructure (GI) in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, the European and Global Green Capital in 2012 and 2019. Vitoria-Gasteiz was selected as a case study because it combines actions aimed at promoting green infrastructure in the city along with an urban model that in recent years has favored more expansive urbanism. Manhattan distance and configurational analysis is used to investigate accessibility to the most relevant elements of the GI system and their integration in the urban tissue. Considering the actual pedestrian mobility network, configurational accessibility is examined globally and locally with 1 km and 300 m radii. The analysis reveals great differences both in global and local configurational accessibility across fifty components of the GI system that are greater than 0.5 ha and open for public use. It also shows that, while almost all inhabitants (97.9%) reside within 1 km from these green areas, 27.7% of the population live more than 300 m away. The investigation demonstrates the need to improve the city’s GI to provide universal accessibility to green spaces. It offers useful methods that planning professionals and local administrations can use to assess residents’ access to green areas and guide future GI transformation and development towards environmental justice.

This literature review identifies, analyses, and discusses research methods and findings regarding environmental correlates of active transportation to school (ATS) in the Western world. It reviews 41 research articles studying 5-to-18-year-old school trip choices published since 2010 until 2020. The identified publications focus on two topics. First, the urban environment around the schools and the students’ homes, and the route between them. And second, personal and external factors affecting mode choice, that are related to the built environment. Main findings and academic gaps include: (1) a growing interest on the topic outside North America, especially in Europe; (2) a methodological shift on how to measure distances between homes and schools, and buffer areas around them, moving from straight line distances to those measured along the street network; (3) a lack of consensus about buffer sizes and threshold distances, which may depend on cultural factors; and (4) differences in methodologies: area definition and characteristics and route characteristics. Finally, there is an overview and discussion about the effect of individual and external factors on the use of active modes in children. Parents’ attitudes and perceptions of the built environment were found very relevant, so as their concerns about traffic safety. The influence and extent of school programs to promote ATS or traffic calming solutions require not only the participation of the centre of studies, but also the engagement of the families and the community. The conclusion includes suggestions for future academic research, like the need for interdisciplinary teams and the observation of walkability aspects of infrastructure.

Los cascos históricos representan la forma tradicional sobre la que se ha construido el paradigma de la ciudad com­pacta, densa y diversa, y, de forma más amplia, el modelo de ciudad sostenible. No obstante, se plantea en qué medida los pro­blemas y retos a los que se enfrentan estos espacios garantizan un desarrollo urbano sostenible. Al mismo tiempo, ¿cuáles son los retos y cómo avanzar hacia el desarrollo sostenible en formas urbanas compactas como son los cascos históricos con fuerte acti­vidad turística? Responder a estas preguntas es el objetivo primordial de la investigación. Para ello, empleamos una metodología hipotético-deductiva y recurrimos a la revisión literaria y a la utilización de datos de diferentes fuentes, incluyendo el trabajo de campo y la observación directa. En los resultados, se realiza la revisión de los marcos y planteamientos principales en los que se ha movido la intervención en cascos históricos en España y se señalan las dinámicas más importantes en curso, contrastándolas con el estudio de caso de Toledo. Se destacan dos conclusiones: uno, el desajuste entre el carácter sostenible del modelo espacial y la emergencia de un modelo insostenible en el plano funcional y socioeconómico, y dos, la necesidad de revertir dicho desfase mediante una mayor coordinación entre administraciones y políticas sectoriales y una mejor regulación y control. Esta práctica contribuye a la comprensión de los cascos históricos en el presente.