Superblock Cuenca — Reclaiming streets for people, ecology, and collective life.

An urban strategy to transform Cuenca’s historic centre by prioritising walking, cycling, public space, and ecological corridors while reorganising mobility hierarchies.

Project Overview

Superblock Cuenca reimagines the historic centre as a constellation of pedestrian-oriented districts. The proposal reorganises vehicular access to the perimeter, liberates interior streets for public life, and introduces a multi-layered ecological network that links plazas, schools, markets, and the Tomebamba river.

  • Typology: Urban design, public space, mobility strategy
  • Location: Cuenca, Ecuador — Historic Centre
  • Status: Research & strategic design proposal
Axonometric representation of Superblock Cuenca

Design Principles

Mobility Hierarchy

Traffic is re-routed to the edges while interior streets become shared surfaces prioritising pedestrians, cyclists, and micro-mobility. Service vehicles operate during limited windows to minimise conflicts.

Ecological Corridors

Linear parks and planted streets stitch together existing green pockets, improving biodiversity, storm-water management, and thermal comfort while connecting to the Tomebamba river landscape.

Civic Nodes

Plazas, school yards, and market forecourts are reprogrammed as active nodes that support community-led events, cultural programming, and everyday social life across the superblock network.

Image Gallery

Vision of the Superblock Cuenca proposal
Vision of the Superblock Cuenca proposal.
Mobility hierarchy diagram for Superblock Cuenca
Mobility hierarchy transitioning to pedestrian-first.
3x3 block structure of the Cuenca superblock system
Three-by-three grid structuring the urban cells.
Baseline analysis map of Cuenca’s historic centre
Baseline analysis of existing conditions.
Concept sketch illustrating public space layers
Mobility hierarchy transitioning to pedestrian-first I-II.
Perspective showing reclaimed street and plaza
Baseline analysis of existing conditions. Layer Approach.
Zoomed aerial of the Cuenca superblock proposal
Zoomed-in aerial highlighting active nodes.
Diagram of nodal connections within a 3x3 block
Nodal connections within the 3x3 cluster.
Quality assessment map of the superblock area
Quality assessment heat map.
Alternate rendering of the quality assessment
Alternate rendering of spatial quality.
Screenshot of project presentation board
Project board summarising the strategy.
Back cover graphic for the Superblock Cuenca publication
Back cover graphic of the publication.
Christian Corral presenting the Superblock Cuenca work
Christian Corral presenting the work.

Credits

Project by Proyectual Studio with collaborative input from residents, municipal actors, and mobility experts in Cuenca. The proposal emerges from applied research on mobility justice, environmental resilience, and participatory planning in Andean cities.