A superblock is an urban space that, unlike the traditional "Block (city)") block—an "urban space, built or intended for construction, generally quadrangular, delimited with streets on all sides"—[1]​ is typically a pedestrian zone in which leisure activities are developed,[2]​ or a residential complex of buildings surrounded by garden areas[3]​ and with limited traffic.[4]​ Its extension is smaller than that of the traditional neighborhood.[5]​.

The model is common to empiricism and architectural rationalism,[6]​ although they differ in their approach for city centers and residential areas.[6]​. It responds to urban dysfunctions through systemic and organic urbanism that manages to rethink the Cerdà Plan of the century.[7]​.

Although they may be newly created, as in the parish #Venezuela "Parroquia (civil)") 23 de Enero "Parroquia 23 de Enero (Caracas)"), in Caracas, designed by Carlos Raúl Villanueva,[6]​ or the superquadras of Brasilia, built between 1956 and 1960,[8]​ they are usually due to urban renewal, as in the reconstruction of an area destroyed in the war, such as the Lijnbaan commercial area") in Rotterdam,[6]​ designed by Jo van den Broek") and Jaap Bakema, or the center of Coventry.[6]​ They also result from the reclassification of industrial areas for residential use, as in the case of Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village "Stuyvesant Town (Manhattan)"), in Manhattan, a superblock made up of 110 buildings, which occupy only 25%. of a garden area, created in the 1940s in line with Le Corbusier's ideas for "towers in a park")",[3]​ Lincoln Center and World Trade Center "World Trade Center (1973-2001)"), both in its original version, which was an example of the failures of the initial design of the superblock,[9]​ and in its reconstruction after the attacks of September 11, 2001, designed by Daniel Libeskind.[9]​.

Other examples in Europe include: La Défense - the business district in Paris -,[6]​ AZCA in Madrid, certain areas of the town of Tres Cantos (Madrid), the residential area of the Barbican[6]​ in the middle of the business area of London or the L'illa Diagonal shopping center in Barcelona, a project by Rafael Moneo and Manuel de Solà-Morales, inaugurated in 1993.[10]​ Likewise, in order to "gain space for citizens" and "make the city more sustainable", in September 2016 a superblock (superilla, in Catalan) was launched in the Barcelona neighborhood of Pueblo Nuevo "Pueblo Nuevo (Barcelona)"), as a test for future urban interventions of this type in other neighborhoods,[11]​ as part of the superblock program announced by Barcelona City Council.[5]​.