![]() ![]() These are cases of space shifting from cars to people on foot and bikes, what traffic engineers and others argue against, saying that less roads means more traffic jams. ![]() But now cities are giving invitations to pedestrians and bicyclists through the closure of some streets to cars and adding bike lanes. His term for this is "invitation" since the middle of the 20th century cities have invited more cars by giving them more space on roads and in parking lots and garages. This isn't to say that he proposes their outright removal from city streets, but that public spaces stop catering to four-wheel automobiles and instead reorient themselves to pedestrians and bicyclists. What Gehl is fighting against can be described in one word: cars. Or in other words, Gehl needs to continue articulating and spreading his ideas, and in this his fifth major book he does so clearly, with an abundance of illustrations and examples of the good and bad in today's cities. ![]() It's a hard position to argue against, but one that is a difficult sell against the entrenched modernist principles of architecture and planning. In response to modernism's emphasis on objects (buildings) over spaces (streets and plazas) and its bird's-eye-view planning, Gehl argues for the prioritization of the design of public space as a supporter of social life. ![]() In 1971 Danish architect and urban designer Jan Gehl articulated the ideas that he would build upon for the rest of his career in the book Life Between Buildings. ![]()
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