Matan Annie - People Cities: The Life and Legacy of Jan Gehl

Copyright 2016 Annie Matan and Peter Newman

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher: Island Press, 2000 M Street, Suite 650, Washington, DC 20036

With thanks to

Jan and Ingrid Gehl

Realdania Foundation

Those that have added their stories to this book (in order of appearance in this book): Enrique Pealosa, Camilla Richter-Friis van Deurs, Klaus Bondam, Rob Adams, Clover Moore, Janette Sadik-Khan, Toshio Kitahara, Brett Wood Gush, and Tom Nielsen.

Those that have helped us and assisted in the development of the book Gehl Architects, Jan Newman, Jean-Paul Horr, Christine Finlay, Pilar

Kasat, City of Perth.

Project team

Editor: Heather Boyer, Island Press

Publisher of Danish edition: Kim Dirckinck-Holmfeld, BOGVRKET

Advice and guidance, fact checking, images, and historical information: Birgitte Bundesen Svarre, Gehl Architects

Graphics and images: Lars Gemze, Gehl Architects

Layout: Margrethe Mokrzycki, Mokrzycki Grafisk Design

Island Press is a trademark of The Center for Resource Economics.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016947848

Printed on recycled, acid-free paper

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

THE HUMAN DIMENSION

MAKING PEOPLE VISIBLE

SPREADING THE WORD

COPENHAGEN AS LABORATORY

CHANGING MINDSETS

CHANGING CITIES GOING FORWARD

GOING FORWARD

by Enrique Pealosa, Mayor of Bogot, Colombia, 1998-2001, re-elected in 2015

When I became mayor of Bogot in 1998, I was obsessed with getting cars off sidewalks and creating a network of hundreds of kilometers of protected bikeways. It was painfully difficult. Cars had been parking on sidewalks, or where there should have been sidewalks, for decades. There was not one block in the city where somebody on a wheelchair could go from one corner to the other on a sidewalk.

Talking about bikeways was even more difficult. At that time, there were no major bikeways in any city in America, not even in European cities such as Paris or Madrid.

But, of course, we knew of Dutch cities and of Copenhagen. We had some support from a Dutch NGO for our project to create a safer urban environment for everyone in Bogot. And as soon as I could, I visited Copenhagen to see its bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure for myself.

Once in Copenhagen, I asked some urbanists what book about urban planning, with emphasis on pedestrian space and bicycling, could I buy? What urbanist could I meet? They recommended Jan Gehl and his book: Life Between Buildings.

I was fascinated by the book. My intuition and vision now had a backbone. Then something marvelous happened: Jans daughter moved to Bogot to work for an NGO. This made Jan travel, not once but several times, to Bogot. We took him on our recently built bikeway network and on our greenways, and we made several presentations.

I discovered, beyond urban matters, what a marvelous human being Jan is, to everybody, what a great sense of humor he has, and even what a fun musician he is with the group of friends with whom he plays the trombone. It is evident that his work on humane cities stems from the way he lives and enjoys life: above all, he wants to make cities that are happier cities, more-fun places to live in.

Jan and I became friends. We met in many places, and I was one of many promoting his gospel all over the world.

Beyond his direct advisory work, Jan has influenced hundreds of cities all over the world to become more humane and happier. I am thankful to know Jan, learn from him, and enjoy him as a human being.

Jan Gehl and Enrique Pealosa testing the new bicycle infrastructure in Bogota in November 2003. The bicycle rickshaw was brought along by the good host because Jan was suffering from a knee injury.

In 2007, I had just returned to Perth after studying and working in the US for six years. I was very interested in continuing my research in walkability and urban design, particularly how people relate to the built environment and why we are continually creating places that people do not like. Through my studies, I had been introduced to Jan Gehls work, and undertook a Jan-Gehl-type Public Space Public Life survey of the city center in Fremantle, Western Australia. This study fueled my desire to undertake more. I was lucky enough to have Jan review this study and then, when he visited Perth in early 2008, to have Peter Newman introduce me to Jan. Jan mentioned that he could use some assistance for the book from Birgitte Svarre on methodologies to study public life.

Before I knew it, I was on a plane to Copenhagen, where I spent over three months working with Jan and Birgitte and others at Gehl Architects. I was also living in a city where public space and peoples enjoyment of space is put first in planning. It was a life-changing experience.

Returning to Perth, on my journey home from the airport, I kept thinking that everything was moving too fast, and then I realized that it had been the first time in three months that I had been in a car. The world was rushing by. In 2008, while in Copenhagen, and also back in Perth, I worked with Jan, Anna Modin, and their team from Gehl Architects on the second Perth Public Space Public Life survey, carried out 15 years after the earlier study. I worked on planning the survey and then helping coordinate the undertaking of the surveys with the City of Perth, the Department of Planning and Infrastructure, and Curtin University (with Murdoch University). Spending many hours watching how a city street works is certainly an eye-opening experience. Observing Jans insights firsthand is also eye opening.

The survey was launched in 2009, and Jan returned to Perth with heavy media attention and a number of big public events, all of which he handled with his grace and good humor. This work set up the next decade of change in our city. The city today is a dramatically different place in terms of street life. Everyone who knew the city center 10 or 20 years ago will readily agree that the new central Perth is a far better place. But very few people know how important Jans role was in this transformation.

This book highlights Jans role in humanizing cities around the world, which had its non-European debut in Perth.