PUBLIC SPACES - PUBLIC LIFE

-for the 21st CENTURY

JAN GEHL, PROFESSOR, DR,LITT.

FOUNDING PARTNER: GEHL ARCHITECTS
URBAN QUALITY CONSULTANTS, COPENHAGEN

Those were the days when

architects were big, and people
were quite smal....

Graduation
1960

4
decades
of
research

Life Between
Buildings
1st edition 1971
Published in many
versions
15 languages

New City
Spaces - 2001

Public Spaces
Public Life
- 1996

New City Life 2006

MAKING PEOPLE

VISIBLE

IN THE PLANNING PROCES

..and making Architects,Landscape Architects

& Planners study People before they design....

1900:
Nine
times more
residents in this
house than
today

Corbussier
1924

CIAM
Athens Charter
1933

1900

2000
Carinvasion
mid 1950s

Perth, West Australia

Elsinore, Denmark

Jane Jacobs
1961

Strget
Copenhagen
pedestrian st.
1962

Copenhagen School
* Life Between Buildings
*Copenhagen Surveys

1971..2006

1968, 1985, 1995, 2005

First Oil Crisis 1973

Traffic Calming 1970s

1998
NEW ATHENS CHARTER
OF CITY PLANN

GEHL Architects
Urban Quality Consultants
Staff: 36
Awerage Age: 34
Women in Staff: 65% Current
Projects: 80
In 30
Countries

Area of Expertise

- Lively City
- Attractive City
- Safe City
- Sustainable City
- Healthy City

Major City Improvement Projects:

Copenhagen
London
Edinburgh
Oslo

Richmond
Seattle
San Fransisco

Stockholm
Riga
Rotterdam
Zrich

New York

Amman

Cape Town

Perth
Adelaide
Melbourne

Previous Projects
Current Projects
Comming Projects

Brisbane

Sydney
Wellington
Christchurch

PUBLIC SPACES - PUBLIC LIFE

-in the 21st CENTURY

JAN GEHL, PROFESSOR, DR,LITT.

FOUNDING PARTNER: GEHL ARCHITECTS
URBAN QUALITY CONSULTANTS, COPENHAGEN

THE HUMAN DIMENSION

- introducing the Client

IN SEARCH OF A HUMAN SCALE

THE CLIENT:
A slow, linear, horizontal,
max 5 km/h walking creature

5 km/hour Architecture

small spaces
small signals
details
people
close ups + distant views

60 km/hour Architecture
large spaces
huge signals
no details
no people

Venice 2005

Dubai 2005

THE BRASILIA SYNDROME!

(City Planning from 10.000 meter above the ground )

Units are getting bigger and bigger

- but people are still slow and small

If in doubt
-leave some meters OUT

Think BIG
- but allways rember to make people places small

IN CONCLUSION
Small is beautiful
Slow is beautiful
Low is beautiful

Prerequisities for Planning:

Human Body
Human Movements
Human Senses
Human Interaction
Human Behaviour

2. THE CITIES

Public Space as Meeting Place

Public Space as Market Place

Public Space as Connection Space

The traditional city......forever

Parantes

The invaded city....from 1950s

Saturday morning, Westport, Ireland

Rumenia

Rumenia

Wednesday afternoon, Dubai

The Carinvasion gets worser every day,

until someone puts their foot down and
decides to do something about it.

Bogota, Colombia - 6 mio. Inh.

The reconquered city...from 1980s

Wanted:
- Lively City
- Attractive City
- Safe City
- Sustainable City
- Healthy City
GEHL ARCHITECTS
-Urban Quality Consultants

Reconqured Cities
Keywords

Willingnes to place
constraints to the vehicular
traffic

London Congestion Charge 2003

Reconqured Cities
Keywords:

Improved Public Transport

New Trams: Bordeux

New Metro: openhagen

New Trams: Strasbourg

New Bus Rapid Transit, Bogota

Reconqured Cities
Keywords

CICLOVIA Bogota ,Colombia

Bicycling: Please Bike

Grandmother, Copenhagen

Reconqured Cities
Keywords:

Careful planning for

Walking and Public Life

9 Reconqured Cities

Barcelona
Lyon
Strasbourg
Freiburg
Copenhagen
Portland
Curitiba
Bogota
Melbourne

There is much more to walking -than walking!

A mode of transport - but with a potential for much more

-and the much more is by far the more interesting part!

You can walk -and walk - and walk....

-but you could just as well walk`n-talk

Slide 63

- or walk`n-watch (and be watched!)

- or walk`n-wink

Slide 63

-or you can stop`n watch

If you can find a vacant bollard ! (Campo in Siena, Italy)

-or you can stop`n-talk

-or you can walk`n-waltz`

-or you can stop`n - watch`n - learn

-and whenever you feel like

you can adress your fellow
citiziens

Summing up:
We are talking about
life itself!

-everything worth
talking about happens
when you are on your
feet -that`s what we
were made for!

What is good about

bicycling?

It is easy to bring the bicycle

along
True door to
Yes, we can
easily become
pedestrians

door transport

Pedestrian
s and
bicyclists
are in
family

It takes up little space

10 bicycles = 1 car
parking space

Same distance
and the different
use of energy

Bicycle tracks are efficient

5 times more people can move per hour on

a bicycle track compared with a lane for
cars

It is good for the environment no energy

pollution
It also uses less
Even less than walking!

Same distance
and the different
use of energy
(Measured in
potatoes)

It is good for the environment no noise

It
is
good
for
your
health
Bicyclists live longer

30 minutes of exercise every day

= 7 more years to live!

Bicyclists live longer

Danes who bicycle to work every day
reduce the risk of serious diseases with
50%
Politiken Danish Newspaper
28.04.2000

We must reduce pollution in

cities - biking is part of the
solution
Bicycling is C02 neutral
Copenhageners
cycling save over
90.000 t CO2
annually

(5 billions Australian $)
23 billion Dkr in
savings for
society if the
Danes would
use the bicycle
50% more

In this City everything will be

done to invite people to walk and
bicycle as much as possible in
the course of their daily day
doings

PUBLIC SPACE PUBLIC LIFE SURVEYS:

Public Spaces & Public Life, Perth,1993

Places for People, Melbourne , 1994

Public Spaces & Public Life, Adelaide, 2002

Places for People, Melbourne , 2004

SYDNEY 2007

SYDNEY
Study area 2.200.000
m2

PROTECTION

COMFORT

ENJOYMENT

Piazza Il Campo, Siena, Italy (14th century)

The Finest Urban Space in the World

- a miracle or straightforward common sense?

Overview of Quality criterias

-The Pedestrian landscape
Campo in Siena

In this City everything will be

done to invite people to walk and
bicycle as much as possible in
the course of their daily day
doings

A brief visit to Copenhagen

-City of Bicycling

Copenhagen-City of Bicycling

Bicycling in Copenhagen
-on a citywide network of bicycle lanes

Constantly improvements

-an efficient, citywide

transportation system

Bicycles are taken

straight through the
street crossings and
the lanes are marked
with blue

Bicycle signals turns

green six seconds before
the car signals

Green wave for bicycles

17 km/h to 20 km/h

- sidewalks and bicycle lanes are taken across

sidestreets, making the city more comfortable and
people friendly!

Regulations: All Taxis must provide

racks for 2 bicycles

Regional Trains
welcoming
bicycles

New Metro - please bring your bike

Are lifts are provided? Yes, of course!

A bicycle culture have step by step

been developed
Everybody bikes

Everybody bikes

Ministers from the cabinet & eve

visitors do it...

Even old folks do it!

(Its open to age groups 5-85+)

Mother in law:Age 85

Age 92

in
e
r
o
m
e
k
i
b
e
m
o
c
n
i
h
g
i
h
h
t
i
w
e
!
n
e
g
a
h
Peopl
n
e
p
Co

Copenhagen
Bicycle Account
1998

The Danish Crown Prince is

doing it too
Two guys on the
road towards the
throne
Princes Frederik and
Christian on their
way to the day care

50% Tasmanian kid !

Bicycling has doubled in 10 years

Inner city morning peak

Going to work in the City of Copenhagen

70%
continue to bike in the winter
36% use bicycle
27% drive car
33% use public transit
5% walk

Slide 115

Major complaint 2002:

Congestion
-on the bicycle lanes!
more biking less accidents

Official City Poster

September 2007

Copenhagen
The No 1 Bicycle
in the World
Goals for 2015:
50% of all comuting
on bicycles
Bicycle Accidents to
be halved

Copenhagen

Melbourne oct 07

CITY OF NEW YORK

-have started building 6000 kilometers o
bicycle lanes

-ONE STONE
-FIVE BIRDS
- Lively

City
- Attractive City
- Safe City
- Sustainable City
- Healthy City

WELCOME TO THE 21st CENTURY