Jan Gehl's talk at the RIBA during the London Architecture week in June was very uplifting. His attitude towards city planning was tinted with hope, optimism and a very big portion of fun. He spoke about the importance of making people want to be in the city, feeling safe and 'sweet', as he put it. His talk was based on a research on the city of London he did for Ken Livingston in 2004 "Towards a fine city for people". Unfortunately, only little has been applied from this research since then. Even Jan Gehl had to admit it.
Some of his most important points were:
- People are the main attraction in a City.
- An agreeable journey to the bus stop is also part of the public transportation strategy.
- We need to invite people to walk and cycle everyday
- "Be sweet to people and they will feel happier (sweeter?) to be in the city."
- A good city is a city where people stop walking and sit down
- Give people space for spontaneity (spaces in the public realm for events, politics, culture, events unfolding organically and naturally)
- Things to avoid: one-way lanes, detours, obstacles, sudden disappearance of pavements, etc.
- Create longer crossing times
- See pedestrians as priority, not cars
- Taxis with bicycle racks
- Transport welcoming bicycles
His last slide, showed a main road where cycles were in the middle and cars on either side with small car signs painted on the road. This showed the irony of our car monopolised society. What if, during the 50's and 60's when cars seemed to have revolutionised our world, they did not take over? How did we even let this happen? Many of Jan Gehl's pictures were showing people having to slalom between cars to be able to access shops, restaurants, their workplace. etc. and these images are very true, since when did cars become a priority before humans? This is maybe the main philosophical question we can extract from this talk. The question is not just how are we building more sustainable cities, how do we 'green' our public realm, but more asking questions about the grassroot problems where these issues actually came from.
