A superblock in Barcelona by Zvi Leve licensed under Creative Commons.

Are Barcelona’s superblocks the car-free neighborhoods of the future? A Texas high-speed rail line project inches along. Ford’s new campus highlights walkability, and more in this week’s National Links.

Superblocks are good for your health: Superblocks are nine-block neighborhoods where traffic is barred to major roads around the outside, leaving the streets inside for pedestrians and cyclists. A recent study from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health estimates that if, as planned, 503 superblocks are realized across the city, journeys by private car would fall by 230,000 trips a week. This would yield significant reductions in air and noise pollution. (Anupan Nanda | The Conversation)

A $14 billion Texas high-speed rail project moves forward: Texas Central, the private company developing the Texas Bullet Train which would run between Houston and Dallas, recently announced it signed a deal with Italian construction giant Salini Impregilo. The firm would design, construct, and install the 240-mile high-speed rail line using Japan’s Shinkansen trains. Still, the project is contingent on various other milestones, like federal approvals and finding billions from private investors. (Dug Begley | Houston Chronicle)

Ford is building a walkable campus: In Dearborn, Michigan, Ford’s corporate campus was designed for the automobiles it sells. Now, Ford has hired a Norwegian-American architecture firm to design an all-new walkable campus, which would be built in phases throughout the next eight or so years. The new campus will eliminate a vast majority of its parking lots, which currently take up 40% of its 350 acres which also will allow staff to walk between meetings. (Mark Wilson | Fast Company)

Toronto considers gender equity in urban planning: Toronto, Canada is looking to make better decisions from a gender equity perspective in the future. City staff is backing the creation of a gender equity strategy as well as a permanent office for implementation of the strategy. The strategy would focus on implementation in transportation, housing, schools, and city planning functions. (Lauren Pelley | CBC News)

Vancouver lifts ride-hailing ban: When Uber tried to start a ride-hailing market in Vancouver in 2012, British Columbia responded by notifying them that the province minimum rate for limousines was $75 per trip. As a result, ride hailing companies have avoided the region. However, British Columbia opened applications on September 3 for ride hailing companies to operate, hoping to learn from other cities’ mistakes. (Laura Bliss | CityLab)

Quote of the Week

“But we will fail if we turn our cities into climate sanctuaries disconnected from the rest of their countries and reserved for the richest citizens. How do we design a transformation to benefit everyone?”

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo in Time Magazine discussing the changes the city is making to combat climate change.

This week on the podcast, Dan Imhoff talks about the Farm Bill and how cities can think about it.