How To Study Public Life

verfasst von: Jan Gehl, Birgitte Svarre

Verlag: Island Press/Center for Resource Economics

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

How do we accommodate a growing urban population in a way that is sustainable, equitable, and inviting? This question is becoming increasingly urgent to answer as we face diminishing fossil-fuel resources and the effects of a changing climate while global cities continue to compete to be the most vibrant centers of culture, knowledge, and finance.

Jan Gehl has been examining this question since the 1960s, when few urban designers or planners were thinking about designing cities for people. But given the unpredictable, complex and ephemeral nature of life in cities, how can we best design public infrastructure—vital to cities for getting from place to place, or staying in place—for human use? Studying city life and understanding the factors that encourage or discourage use is the key to designing inviting public space.

In How to Study Public Life Jan Gehl and Birgitte Svarre draw from their combined experience of over 50 years to provide a history of public-life study as well as methods and tools necessary to recapture city life as an important planning dimension.

This type of systematic study began in earnest in the 1960s, when several researchers and journalists on different continents criticized urban planning for having forgotten life in the city. City life studies provide knowledge about human behavior in the built environment in an attempt to put it on an equal footing with knowledge about urban elements such as buildings and transport systems. Studies can be used as input in the decision-making process, as part of overall planning, or in designing individual projects such as streets, squares or parks. The original goal is still the goal today: to recapture city life as an important planning dimension. Anyone interested in improving city life will find inspiration, tools, and examples in this invaluable guide.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

1. Public Space, Public Life: an Interaction

Abstract

Like the weather, life is difficult to predict. Nonetheless, meteorologists have developed methods enabling them to predict the weather, and over the years their methods have become so refined that they can make forecasts with greater accuracy and reach. The methods described in this book also deal with foreseeing phenomena in constant flux, but the focus here is how life unfolds in city space. Just as with weather forecasting, this doesn’t mean that anyone can develop a sure-fire method to predict how people will use a particular city space. Masses of data have been gathered over the years concerning the interaction of life and space in cities, and just like meteorologists’ knowledge about the weather, this data can provide greater understanding of city life and predict how it will presumably unfold in the given framework.

Jan Gehl, Birgitte Svarre

2. Who, What, Where?

Abstract

It is necessary to ask questions systematically and divide the variety of activities and people into subcategories in order to get specific and useful knowledge about the complex interaction of life and form in public space. This chapter outlines several general study questions: how many, who, where, what, how long? An example is given showing how each basic question has been studied in various contexts.

Jan Gehl, Birgitte Svarre

3. Counting, Mapping, Tracking and Other Tools

Abstract

Purpose, budget, time and local conditions determine the tools selected for a study. Will the results be used as the basis for making a political decision, or are some quick before-and-after statistics needed to measure the effect of a project? Are you gathering specific background information as part of a design process, or is your study part of a more general research project to gather basic information over time and across geographic lines?

Jan Gehl, Birgitte Svarre

4. Public Life Studies From a Historical Perspective

Abstract

This chapter provides a historical overview of some of the societal and structural factors in the disciplines of architecture and city planning that fueled the establishment of public life studies as a special field.

Jan Gehl, Birgitte Svarre

5. How They Did It: Research Notes

Abstract

The brief research stories describe the development and use of tools for public life studies. They are told in retrospect and, as far as possible, from the field where tools are often developed and adapted to the individual situation. Emphasis is on the selection, development and use of tools rather than on the results of the individual studies. Some references are the description of a segment of a larger study.

Jan Gehl, Birgitte Svarre

6. Public Life Studies in Practice

Abstract

As the name indicates, public space-public life studies provide knowledge about physical frameworks as well as how people use them. The purpose of conducting these studies is to improve the physical conditions for people in cities by acquiring specific knowledge about individual public spaces and how and when they are used.

Jan Gehl, Birgitte Svarre

7. Public Life Studies and Urban Policy

Abstract

Copenhagen’s main street, Strøget, was converted from a traffic street to a pedestrian street in November 1962. It didn’t happen without the rattling of sabers and vociferous debate: “We are Danes, not Italians, and car-free public space is never going to work in Scandinavian weather and Scandinavian culture.“¹ But the street was closed to car traffic all the same. Nothing was renovated at this point; it was still an ordinary street with asphalt lanes, curbs and sidewalks, just minus car traffic as an experiment.

Jan Gehl, Birgitte Svarre

Backmatter

Titel: How To Study Public Life
verfasst von: Jan Gehl
Birgitte Svarre
Verlag: Island Press/Center for Resource Economics
Electronic ISBN: 978-1-61091-525-0
Print ISBN: 978-1-59726-445-7
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-525-0