A Brief History of City Planning from Jan Gehl

1955-60

• Car Invasion 
• "The Brasilia Syndrome" - city planning from 5 meters above the ground 
• The people scale is completely neglected
• The Planners: planning from above and from a distance 
• The Architects: more and more focused on form 
• The Traffic Planners: making rooms for the traffic, making cars happy 
• Who is looking after the people and the city at eye level?
• The Human Dimension is essentially lost

2010: Fifty Years Later

• Wanted: Lively, attractive, safe, sustainable, healthy city
• How? Jan Gehl has some ideas

Cities for People: We must bring back the principles of planning at a Human Scale to make cities first and foremost a place for people once again.

Jan Gehl is a world-renowned architect, urban designer, and author - see more about his approach in lectures and videos here! He is a founding partner of Gehl Architects, an "Urban Quality Consulting" firm that focuses on creating cities for people; mutually beneficial relationships between people's quality of life and their built environment. Re-orienting city design towards pedestrians and cyclists to improve quality of life for people has been a focus of Gehl's career. He is (among all the other people I highlight in my blog) amazing and someone I would dream to work with! 

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