LIFE BETWEEN BUILDINGS

Using Public Space

Jan Gehl
 Chp 1: Life Between Buildings
Physical environment is one of the factors that influences outdoor spaces.

Necessary Activities

● Everyday must do tasks

● There incidence is only slightly influenced by
the physical framework/exterior environment.

Optional Activities
● Outdoor recreational activities
● Activities wished to be done if time and place make it
possible
● Only when exterior conditions are favourable.

Social Activities
● Depend on people presence
● Also called ‘resultant’ activities – evolve from
activities linked to above
● Depends on context
Graphic representation of the
relationship between the quality
of outdoor spaces and the rate of
occurrence of outdoor activities.
The varying degrees of contacts
How to stimulate interaction?
But if opportunity for activity between buildings is
missing , then low intensity contacts disappears.

Prerequisite for having some life between buildings is

the opportunity to MEET.

Frequent meetings in connection with daily activities help

create undemanding , easy way of maintain contacts ,
than having to call up and arrange a meeting .
Activity as attraction
People come where people are.

People stop to watch people and events. Benches being used when they face some
activities

Something more than architecture is always needed for interactions to develop . But design that is
conducive to such interactions will always encourage it.
Improved Quality - Better Activities
HOW ?
❏ Traffic free zones
❏ Light traffic zones
❏ Courtyard clearing
❏ Laying of parks
❏ Having a well-planned
semi-private front-yard
Based on survey recordings of
activities in Copenhagen.
● 1968
● 20,500 sq.m pedestrian area
● Avg. No:of people engaged in
stationary activities - 1750
● 1986
● 55,000 sq.m pedestrian area
● Avg. No:of people engaged in
stationary activities - 4580
● 1995
● 71,000 sq.m pedestrian area
● Avg. No:of people engaged in
stationary activities - 5900
 Social structure through physical structure
-the need to create subdivisions and groups

Physical structure support social

structure VISUALLY and
FUNCTIONALLY.

Degree of privacy
Benefits smaller units effectively
organize themselves
The cooperative housing project Tinggarden , Copenhagen.(built 1977-79)
● Not clear where the
house belongs or where
the residential area
ends.
● Undefined physical
structure becoming a
obstacle to life between
buildings.
 Degrees of privacy

● permits movement from small

groups and space to larger, more
private to public
● a greater feel of security
● more area of belongingness for
individual
● thus greater use of public space.
● thus know more people better.
● increased security and surveillance
● Transitions - good visual connection
imp. private semi-public public

Check in sectors
 Positive process Negative process
Something happens because Nothing happens because
something happens because nothing happens
something happens

Row housing
Detached houses with spread out play areas
Patterns of children’s play areas consisting of single family houses and row houses in Denmark.
Time to experience

● Along with the events be near eye level and having good
visual connection, there must be an reasonable amount of
time to experience things.
● 5 to 15 km/hr of walking and running speed allows to
perceive and process details .
● Thus, in automobile oriented cities,in contrary to
pedestrian city , as people move quickly, larger
representations are required to perceive objects.
● So speed of movement can determine size and dimension
of buildings - they lack details as these cannot be seen in
any case.
● SLOW TRAFFIC AND LONGER OUTDOOR STAYS
MEANS LIVELY CITIES
Number of people and Duration of events
A high level of activity in a certain area can be stimulated both by ensuring that more people use the public spaces and by
encouraging longer individual stay.

Winter in Copenhagen Summer in Copenhagen

So, for physical planning for isolation and contact
Planning decisions that influence the assembly or disperse of
people and events.
Assembling is more difficult that dispersal.
CITY LEVEL PLANNING (large scale)
Dispersal
- Land use divisions
-In automobile dependent cities
Assembly
-Public spaces become the important
element of the city plan.
- all functions alongside and facing
STREETS
SITE PLANNING (medium scale)
Dispersal
-building distance increase ,
people get dispersed.
Assembly
-COMPACT arrangement of
buildings
-short pedestrian traffic
-better sensory experience
The town that is a square The town that is a street
Eg: Gardsakra , Sweden by Architect Peter Broberg

Linear structures Low buildings

facing the streets

The individual is able to experience what is going on merely by taking a short walks.
Assemble or disperse in small scale
SPATIALLY

Assemble

Disperse

ALONG THE FACADE AT LEVELS

To integrate or segregate
Not the formal integration of a factory and residence, placed close together , but whether people
working and living there, meet in connection with daily activities.

● Mix functions ● Functionalistic city

● Such planning can be
done by describing
growth directions
over time, not
function.
Various activities
and categories of
people function
together
structure-
separation of unlike
functions.
● City gets divided into
monofunctional
areas.
● Eg: a city built around
Separation of a single function ,
functions and people only one category of
people included like a
that differ.
university town.
Segregation happens when:
● Divided traffic between pedestrians, bicycles and automobiles
● Differentiated road system - each type of traffic with own route
● It becomes duller to drive , walk , live along street.

SOLN;
● Transferring individual trips to combined networks of public transit.
 To integrate or segregate traffic
Los Angeles
-bases on fast moving traffic
-Single direction
-low safety
-only vehicular traffic
Radburn
-Complicated system with parallel
roads , paths , underpasses.
-Functioned poorly as people
preferred shorter routes than safer
lengthy ones
Delft
-Based on slow moving
traffic introduced in 1969
-simple , straightforward ,
safe , keep connected to
spaces
Venice
-heavy goof transportation via canals.
-Follows the principle of leaving cars at
the city limits and walk the rest
(50-150m) through the
neighbourhood
Quality of space

● people + events
● activities allowed to develop

So outdoor activities = outdoor spaces, when quality of

space reduce activities disappear.

Treatment of details is a crucial factor in the usability of

outdoor spaces. When carefully detailed, outdoor spaces
stand a good chance of being functional and popular.
 “big events evolve from the many small ones.”

attractive to it also means that a broad spectrum

of other activities – play, sports,
walk, stand, sit, see, hear, and talk community activities
walking
Deciding factors:
● Space - Tolerance of interferences during walking.Able
to accommodate 10 to 15 pedestrians per minute per
meter.Overcrowding results in people walking in line
behind one another,with min. interaction.
● Pavement and surface conditions - Cobblestones,
sand, loose gravel, and an uneven ground surface are in
most cases unsuitable.
● Wheeled walking traffic demands more ample
dimensioning.
● Acceptable walking distances - 400 to 500 meters
 Physical distance vs Experienced distance

straight, unprotected, and dull path is long same length can be experienced as a very short
and tiring. distance if the route is perceived in stages.

walking network with alternating street spaces and small squares often
have the effect of making the walking distances seem shorter
People will concentrate on
movement from one square
to the next.

This is called spatial

sequencing.
Walking routes.

When the goal is in sight, people tend to steer directly toward it.
Whenever people walk, they prefer direct routes and shortcuts.

In trafficked streets, the tendency is to follow the shortest route

instead of the safest one.

For practical planning - this emphasizes the importance of careful

design of pedestrian routes where the distant destination is not in
view, but where the primary direction toward the destination is
maintained.
 people tend to circumvent or avoid the problems of changing levels

Eg : There are always more customers on the ground floor of department stores than on other floors

Relatively flat ramps are generally preferred to stairs.

Ramps also permit people to maneuver baby carriages and wheelchairs more easily.
Standing
Standing

● Stopping for a
moment
● To talk to someone
● Standing for a while
Sitting

-A simple seating provision

paves way for numerous
activities.

-More demanding
provision

-Preferred along facades ,

spatial boundaries than
middle spaces.

-Not to be planned due to

“fear of empty space”

-Should be based on spatial

and functional qualities of
the location
-Secondary Seatings

Eg: Stairways , pedestals ,

low walls , etc.

Sitting landscapes - a
fountain with a wide
terraced base

-benches for resting every

100 m
zones for staying – the edge effect

The edges were the preferred zones for staying,

while the open plains or beaches were not used until
the edge zones were fully occupied.

The popularity of edge zones is that placement at

the edge of a space provides the best opportunities
for surveying it.

The edge zone offers a place to linger thus activities

grow from the edge toward the middle.

“If the edge fails, then the space never becomes lively.”
Seeing , Hearing , Talking

-Lighting

-Replacing noise of vehicles by the sounds of steps , children playing , etc. is important for psychological
behaviours.

-Spontaneous street music in Copenhagen has had a remarkable revival along with introduction of
pedestrian streets . Street music is one of the greatest attractions.
Conversation
Landscapes
By Architect Ralph Erskine

It is easier to engage in
conversation when benches are
placed at an angle.