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The associations warn that the streets are "polluted and noisy" because of cars, which has made the city "inhospitable", and they want to give the roads in the neighbourhoods back to residents.

“Let's walk without fear, play in the street, talk, listen to music or simply silence, cycle, enjoy the terraces and breathe well”, proposes Lisboa Possível, in the information released about the project.

The concept of “super neighbourhoods” is inspired by the vision of Ton Salvadó, former director of urban planning for the municipality of Barcelona (Spain), where this idea was implemented from 2016 in several blocks.

“Pedestrians priority”

The Catalan municipality describes on its website a future with “a network of squares and green centres where pedestrians have priority”, with traffic diverted to roads outside the neighborhood and in which only vehicles of residents and traders enter and leave.

The representative of Lisboa Possível, Ksenia Ashrafullina, explained to Lusa that there are currently talks with two parishes in Lisbon to implement the proposal, after they tried to implement a “super-neighbourhood” in Misericórdia.

The proposal was, in collaboration with this Parish Council, to close traffic on the streets around Praça das Flores for a day, in order to show the concept, while various environmental and cultural activities took place.

At the event, residents and shopkeepers spoke at Praça das Flores about the neighbourhood's problems, as well as potential solutions, with requests emerging such as larger sidewalks, places to stop scooters and bicycles, more buses, parking spaces for residents and traffic restrictions.