# Modeling the Health Benefits of Superblocks across the City of Los Angeles
###### Abstract  
Superblocks can help to transform urban areas into pedestrian-centric neighborhoods. First launched in Barcelona, Spain, they are expected to reduce harmful environmental exposures, increase green space access and thereby provide substantial health benefits. However, few studies have examined the practicality and likely benefits of implementing Superblocks in other metropolitan areas. We developed a methodological framework to build a generalizable City of Los Angeles (LA) Superblocks Model and evaluate the predicted health benefits that would follow such an intervention. We derived and used five rules to guide the choice of arterial streets and candidate blocks and the choice of major bounding streets that could facilitate mobility across the metropolitan area. We next used the BenMap-CE model to perform a quantitative assessment of the health and economic benefits that would accompany five scenarios that would transform 5-50% of the residential areas in the City of LA to Superblocks. We found that the creation of superblocks resulted in significant reductions in hospital admissions and significant economic savings. The benefits were strongest when 5-10% of residential areas were transformed, but rapidly decreased as the threshold reached 30%. These results will help stakeholders determine the optimal balance between reduced car traffic and improved health outcomes. Moreover, we illustrated how to develop a Superblocks model for a highly versatile and populated metropolitan area like the City of LA and how the model can be used to assess the potential health benefits and benchmark the relationship between the scale of the Superblock implementation and the accompanying health benefits moving forward. Superblocks; Los Angeles; air pollution mitigation; synthesized system; BenMap-CE; EnviroAtlas +
Footnote †: journal: Applied Sciences  
One sustainable strategy for countering the aforementioned urbanization issues and regenerating our cites is the Superblocks model. The Superblocks term was introduced into the urban planning field in 2020 and used to represent one large block that combined many smaller blocks created by older street grid systems [6; 7]. This model was later adopted by the Barcelona City Council in collaboration with the Urban Ecology Agency to foster sustainable mobility in the city [8]. In the Barcelona superblock model, Superblocks are territorial units that use a variety of interventions to reclaim space for the people, reduce motorized transport, provide urban greening to mitigate the effects of climate change and ultimately improve the quality of life of residents [9]. A recent study estimated the health impacts of this innovative urban and transport planning model in Barcelona and projected that 667 premature deaths (95% CI: 235-1098) could be prevented annually if 503 Superblocks were established in the city ([PERSON] et al. 2020). The largest number of lives saved was attributed to reductions in NO2 levels (291, 95% PI: 0-838), followed by road traffic noise (163, 95% CI: 83-246), heat (117, 95% CI: 101-137) and green space development (60, 95% CI: 0-119). This study also comprehensively translated the estimated annually prevented premature deaths into a substantial economic impact of 1.7 billion EUR and average gains in life expectancy of almost 200 days due to reductions in harmful environmental exposures. The health impact assessment incorporated the best epidemiological affirmed evidence, shed light on the population health benefits that would accompany real-life Superblock interventions and laid out the foundation of scaling up the Superblock interventions to other cities, where similar health benefits can be expected. The City of LA is the second-largest city in the United States and well known for its sprawling metropolitan area, traffic congestion and traffic related air pollution (TRAP) [10]. In addition, the presence of two major seaports and the associated goods movement infrastructure creates additional emissions from diesel vehicles [11; 12; 13].