Städte für Menschen

For more than 40 years, architect and urban planner Jan Gehl has been redesigning squares, streets, and entire neighborhoods for the benefit of residents. He relies on insights gained from long-term studies of urban situations in various countries. By examining large cities in detail and on a smaller scale, Gehl develops means and ways to significantly transform dysfunctional and inhospitable urban landscapes. Demographic developments and changing lifestyles are taken into account alongside design processes. The most important principle of Jan Gehl's human-scale urban planning is that urban space must be experienced at the speed of a pedestrian, rather than from a vehicle. Only in this way can both traditional metropolises and rapidly growing cities in developing and emerging countries be transformed into cities for people. The book presents Jan Gehl's work in new construction as well as the redesign of urban spaces and traffic areas. Illustrations of his planning models in text and images, along with planning principles and methods, demonstrate how easily vibrant, safe, sustainable, and healthy cities can be created in the future.