public LIFE

Urban study

M r Harri Vishnu
AC18UAR019
The Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CyLNS_ljHw
Only architecture that considers the
human scale and interaction is
successful architecture.
- JAN GEHL
Pedestrian scale is the most important phrase in urban
planning according to thought leader and urban planner
Jan Gehl. He wants people to experience the city on foot
and in public. However, these ambitions have not been
lived up to everywhere. The movie gives us hope on
change in the future, however – and the current changes
due to Covid-19 show that important steps are being taken
now.

https://
issuu.com/
gehlarchitects/
docs/
694_k__benhavn_m
ore_people_walk_
JAN As a "young architect working in the suburbs," Gehl married
a psychologist and "had many discussions about why the
human side of architecture was not more carefully looked
after by the architects, landscape architects, and planners...
My wife and I set out to study the borderland between

GEHL
sociology, psychology, architecture, and planning."

Danish architect &

Urban design consultant
The Chapter 1: Do we shape our cities, or do our
HUMAN cities shape us?

Scale
Economic growth, particularly in countries like the U.S. and in China, has
made practicability win over liveability in too many cases. Countless cities
have lost their old city characteristics and thereby their charm, having to make
way to parking lots, highways and other car-focused enterprises. While
superblocks and new, modern housing have inarguably improved living quality
for countless people, we have lost the human scale in the last century – we, as a
civilization, have forgotten how to think and imagine a city from the people’s
end.
The Chapter 2: Measuring what we care about
HUMAN
Scale
According to Jan Gehl, the key is to show people what their lives in the city
could be like. By organically or iteratively growing a public space, we can
transform ideas of what city streets should look like and incite people’s
imagination. Often, this change results in important long-term projects, such as
for example the Ciclovía in Bogotá. Every Sunday, big parts of the city’s street
network are off-limits for cars and may only be used by pedestrians and
cyclists. Many other cities around the world have copied this innovation.
Among other things, this cycling project changed the data we measure,
therefore also shifting priorities in urban planning.
The Chapter 3: Doing more with less
HUMAN
Scale

Various experts from all over the world agree in The Human Scale that it is not
expensive at all to utilize existing spaces better. We can easily make them more
inviting to socialize, to gather, or to simply take a breath from city life and sit
down for a while. This also gives importance to local communities.
The Chapter 4: The chaos that has created itself
HUMAN
Scale
Using the example of Dhaka as one of the densest and fastest-growing cities in
the world, the movie next tackles the danger of creating chaos in a city.
According to local experts from Dhaka, the problem is that many urban
planners want to copy planning trends in the Western world. The city is already
suffering from the car focus that is destroying its “flavor”. At the same time,
Jan Gehl’s methods of counting pedestrians (and rickshaws, in this case), can
be adapted to the local context and used in a beneficial way.
The Chapter 5: Being nice to people is cheap
HUMAN
Scale
Unsurprisingly, people wanted a liveable city centre with more low-rise
building, bike lanes, gardens, public spaces and less focus on retails. The wish
for a “city for people, not for cars” was very clear. Gehl Architects
demonstrated that as urban planners, we need to think as people, not as
corporations. People know exactly what their cities should be like and by
focusing on their needs and demands, rather than on cars, you can drastically
improve cities.

https://parcitypatory.org/2020/06/19/jan-gehl-human-scale/
The task
Analysis
The speech
Information
Jan Gehl’s
Principle

1. Stop Building 'Architecture for Cheap Gasoline’

2. Make Public Life the Driver for Urban Design

3. Design for Multisensory Experiences

4. Make Public Transportation More Equitable

5. Ban Cars
Stop Building
'Architecture
for Cheap
Gasoline’
Principle 1
Climate change and public health are two factors that Jan Gehl says should be of utmost importance to planners, especially considering that
"for 50 years, we made cities in such a way that people are almost forced to sit down all day in their cars, in their offices, or in their homes.
This has led to serious situations health-wise."

What causes that? According to Gehl, it is cars and the availability of cheap gasoline that created the suburban construction period, but
when gas starts to become more expensive, it’s no longer a good idea.

This line of thinking is reflected in a recent study published in The Lancet which found that those living in city centers have a longer life
expectancy than those living in the outside areas because they walk more often over the course of their lives when making their daily
commutes.

The research was conducted on 6,822 people from 14 cities in ten countries with participants who were between 18 and 66 years old. The
studied noted, among other things, each person's ability to walk and their access to public transport and parks.
Make Public
Life the Driver
for Urban
Design
Principle 2

In 2009, the City of Copenhagen enacted "A Metropolis for People", a plant inspired by a theory from Gehl Architects that allowed for the
design of a vision and goals for urban life in the Danish capital in 2015.

Thanks to that, we’re able to see that six years ago public figures in Copenhagen set out to make it the most livable city in the world, ie. a
sustainable city in which, through their public spaces, people are invited to have a unique and diverse life.

To move towards this goal, the plan was structured in three main components: walking more, spending more time in public spaces and
getting out of “private cocoons” more. As Gehl explained during his stay in New York, this made the city more exciting, interesting and
safer, as well as promoted social inclusion.
Design for
Multisensory
Experiences
Principle 3

To explain this point, Gehl uses Venice and Brasilia as examples, stating that if you want to have an experience where the senses are active
and therefore, more pleasing, you should visit the former. However, if you don’t want something like that, go to the Brazilian capital city.

These examples show how people living there have lost the opportunity to enjoy their surroundings through their senses, since as Gehl says
"we have broken all the rules to make automobiles happy."

In contrast, what cities should be doing is building around the body and senses of human beings to take advantage of our capabilities, so
that people can enjoy their cities to their fullest potential.
Make Public
Transportation
More Equitable
Principle 4

Promoting equality in cities has become a mission in various parts of the world. We can achieve more equality if public transport becomes
accessible, efficient, and a reasonable alternative to cars.

This way, people who live in the suburbs, because the land there is cheaper and more suited to their income, don’t need to spend so much of
their budget on transportation, something that people who currently live in city centers don’t need to worry about.
Ban Cars
Principle 5

According to Gehl, the car is not a smart way of getting around, especially in cities that have populations of 10 million or more, like in
South America, Africa, and Asia.

In the latter region, Gehl uses Singapore as an example, by saying that it is a very small island, and as a result of the large number of cars
there is almost no more free space on the streets, even when in a dense city it’s possible to get everywhere much faster either on foot or by
bicycle.

He also argues that "it is no secret that the good days of the automobile are over."
Jan Gehl’s
Perspective

• Necessary, Optional, and Social Activity.

• Life Between Buildings.

• Public Spaces and Public Life Studies.

• Gradual Transformations.

• Winter Spaces.
First life,
Then space,
Then buildings –
The other way around
never works.
First life, Then space, Then buildings –
The other way around never works.
The
End