Book Description Review Quotes Contents Press Materials Blogs
Press Materials
 
Book Description

“A good city is like a good party—you stay for longer than you plan,” says Danish architect Jan Gehl. He believes that good architecture is not about form, but about the interaction between form and life. Over the last 50 years, Gehl has changed the way that we think about architecture and city planning—moving from the Modernist separation of uses to a human-scale approach inviting people to use their cities. 

At a time when growing numbers are populating cities, planning urban spaces to be humane, safe, and open to all is ever-more critical. With the help of Jan Gehl, we can all become advocates for human-scale design. Jan’s research, theories, and strategies have been helping cities to reclaim their public space and recover from the great post-WWII car invasion. His work has influenced public space improvements in over 50 global cities, including New York, London, Moscow, Copenhagen, Melbourne, Sydney, and the authors’ hometown of Perth.

While much has been written by Jan Gehl about his approach, and by others about his influence, this book tells the inside story of how he learned to study urban spaces and implement his people-centered approach.

People Cities discusses the work, theory, life, and influence of Jan Gehl from the perspective of those who have worked with him across the globe. Authors Matan and Newman celebrate Jan's role in changing the urban planning paradigm from an abstract, ideological modernism to a people-focused movement. It is organized around the creation of that movement, using key periods in Jan’s working life as a structure.

People Cities will inspire anyone who wants to create vibrant, human-scale cities and understand the ideas and work of an architect who has most influenced how we should and can design cities for people. 

Review Quotes

"This in-depth, illustrated biography...follows the evolution of Gehl's theories as he 'reconquers' cities from London to Sydney with pedestrianized streets, bike lanes, enriched 'edge environments' and more."
Nature

"A thoughtful tribute to an exceptional urbanist...Read People Cities to be inspired and to learn about Jan Gehl, his great influence, as well as his key collaborators; but most of all, read it to see the world in new ways, with hope for impacting the future, whatever your background or training may be."
Journal of Planning Education and Research

"A lively, optimistic, and energetic celebration of Jan Gehl's contribution to creating better cities and promoting a calmer, healthier more civilised life."
World Transport Journal

"Anyone interested in the life and legacy of Jan Gehl should read this book...very insightful."
Journal of Urban Affairs

"A highly readable account of the work of Jan Gehl …. the book emphasizes how ground-breaking his earlier methodological studies of life in public spaces were."
Urban Design Group

"Jam-packed with case studies, testimonials from Jan's colleagues, before and after images and informative illustrations, this ode to Jan Gehl's work makes for a captivating and entertaining read. For people unfamiliar with the work of Jan Gehl, this book provides a perfect overview of Jan's humanistic urban design approach which he has advocated and delivered for over fifty years. For people familiar with Jan's work, then this book will serve as an entertaining 'whistle stop' tour of over half a century of inspiring work."
Flourishing with Nature

Contents

Preface

Chapter 1: Introducing the Human Dimension 
Chapter 2: In Search of Life in Cities
Chapter 3: Wanted Globally: A Good Urban Habitat
Chapter 4: Copenhagen as Laboratory
Chapter 5: Changing Mindsets
Chapter 6: Changing Cities
Chapter 7: Going Forward
Appendix
Notes

Blogs

Walkability is a global movement: The Walk21 Conference and Jan Gehl

By Annie Matan, Peter Newman / On December 1st, 2016

Walkability is a global movement. Every year walkability professionals come together at the international walking conference, Walk21. In October of this year for the first time the conference was held in Asia, in Hong Kong, where over 800 people from 38 countries gathered to learn from each other, to share their successes and to share their difficulties.

In the walkability field there is perhaps no one more persistent nor better known than Jan Gehl, the Danish urban designer and architect who has been studying walking and advocating for people-focused design of cities for over 50 years. Much has been written about Jan’s theories, methods and successes in cities like Copenhagen, New York and Melbourne, but not much is known about the man himself – how his theories progressed, who influenced him nor of his life more generally. Our new book People Cities: The Life and Legacy of Jan Gehl  shares this inside story, combining biography with personal stories of influence. For anyone wanting to be a walkability advocate the book will help you see how Jan has done this through combining academic, personal and political skills with an enormous amount of energy and gentle humour.

Despite the growing recognition of the critical role that walkable urban design plays in terms of creating health, environmental and economic benefits, enabling walkability is not easy. Car-based planning is readily entrenched within our planning systems, particularly in the United States and Australia, and the tools that put car-based transport first, such as traffic impact assessments, are hard to overcome. The recent Walk21 conference highlighted the need for policy change (presented on by Peter), large demonstration projects (such as the major transformation of New York’s Time Square as presented in People Cities) and for small interventions such as the Wray Ave Solar Parklet – a small public space that will provide free solar power currently being converted from 2 motorcycle parking bays (as presented on by Annie and parklet designer Jean-Paul Horrè). These interventions provide hope, and importantly provide a political impact. People flock to them, reinforcing that if you provide human-focused places people like them and will use them.

The conference also highlighted the need for data on how people use public space. Most cities know how many cars are using their streets, both for movement and for staying (parking). But most cities don’t know how many people are walking on their streets or where people are stopping to spend time. To make real change this data needs to be part of the regular planning process. The substantial amount of information on public life that has been collected by Jan clearly demonstrates that a sound knowledge base can enable changes to the planning system and to city design. This data empowers local decision makers and gives them the tools to overcome some of the entrenched modernistic, car-based planning strategies. Studying people breaks planning down to what it should be about–providing for healthy, vibrant and liveable places.      

That walkability is now a social and political movement is an important legacy of Jan Gehl and the Walk21 conferences.

 
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