Home > Articles > Published articles > The political price of superblocks : |
Date: | 2024 |
Abstract: | 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. |
Grants: | Agencia Estatal de Investigación PID2022-136314OB-I00 Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación TED2021-129280B-I00 "la Caixa" Foundation SR22-00147 European Commission 101117700 |
Note: | Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M |
Rights: | Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades. |
Language: | Anglès |
Document: | Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada |
Subject: | Electoral analysis ; Policy evaluation ; Superblocks ; Sustainable urban planning ; Urban policy acceptability |
Published in: | Environment International, Vol. 189 (July 2024) , art. 108789, ISSN 1873-6750 |
12 p, 3.8 MB |