How to Study Public Life
Life is unpredictable, complex and ephemeral, so how on earth cananyone plan how life will play out in cities? Studying city life andunderstanding the factors that encourage or discourage use is the keyto designing inviting public space. Studies can be used as input in thedecision-making process, as part of overall planning, or indesigning individual projects such as streets, squares or parks. InHow to Study Public Life, Jan Gehl and Birgitte Svarre drawfrom their combined experience of over fifty years to provide ahistory of public-life study as well as methods and tools necessary torecapture city life as an important planning dimension. Anyoneinterested in improving city life will find inspiration, tools, andexamples in this invaluable guide.
Jan Gehl is a founding partner of Gehl Architects– Urban Quality Consultants. He is widely credited with creatingand renewing urban spaces in cities around the world, includingCopenhagen, Melbourne, New York, London, and manyothers. Birgitte Svarre works as project managerresponsible for book publications and is involved in research withinGehl Architects.
