People-powered urban design

Danish architect Jan Gehl, who shared CNU XIII closing keynote duties with author James Howard Kunstler, was a modernist and “less is more” believer when he graduated from architecture school in 1960. Then he married a psychologist and set himself on a path to become what he calls “a people architect.” Because participation in public spaces today is optional, Gehl takes seriously the challenge of making them irresistible. He’s succeeded in making the streets and plazas of cities from Copenhagen to Melbourne, Australia, teem with human life. His renowned presentations are the kind of wise, joyful expressions you’d expect from someone thoroughly committed to architecture’s human dimension. Early in his remarks, Gehl got a strong response from the crowd as he talked about an image of a toddler. “Here is the client. This is my grandchild and this is the greatest day in her life, the day that she learned to walk. She stands up one day and suddenly realizes, ‘I got it.’ Mama will spring to the phone and tell grandmother, ‘she can walk, she can walk.’ That is the beginning of everything for a walking animal. All of our life happens on our feet. We never take the

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