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duparker's review against another edition
5.0
Great resource. Really an excellent planning text that should be used by anyone looking into a community development related field or industry. It is so well written and thoughtful with great photographs laid out in a striking and readable way. A classic text.
branev's review against another edition
4.0
Being a layman in urbanism and a person with pure interest in the psychology of developing progressive and balanced cities, I enjoyed this book a lot.
Jan Gehl observes the cross-country an cross-culture patterns that are preferred while planning cities and the environment in them. He is a strong proponent of the theory that in time when urban population grows, traffic should be getting predominantly green = walking, driving bikes and using public transportation. If he was just repeating this (as some reviews here in Goodreads hint) I would feel a bit uninspired. Instead, he exemplifies in numerous ways why it is important to adjust the cityscape to this novel credo and how it has helped in real-life scenarios. What I enjoyed greatly is that apart of the detailed stories he shares a rich selection of pictures that sunk in my mind and even made me add a few new cities in my to-visit list :)
Sienna, here I come!
Jan Gehl observes the cross-country an cross-culture patterns that are preferred while planning cities and the environment in them. He is a strong proponent of the theory that in time when urban population grows, traffic should be getting predominantly green = walking, driving bikes and using public transportation. If he was just repeating this (as some reviews here in Goodreads hint) I would feel a bit uninspired. Instead, he exemplifies in numerous ways why it is important to adjust the cityscape to this novel credo and how it has helped in real-life scenarios. What I enjoyed greatly is that apart of the detailed stories he shares a rich selection of pictures that sunk in my mind and even made me add a few new cities in my to-visit list :)
Sienna, here I come!
richard_f's review against another edition
5.0
An excellent book on the fundamentals of placemaking.
niniane's review against another edition
5.0
Amazing book about designing cities to feel good for human interaction. Prioritize walking and bicycling as the most important transportation.
Use seating, public plazas, and interesting ground-level storefronts to encourage people to spend more time in the city. That leads to community building.
Use seating, public plazas, and interesting ground-level storefronts to encourage people to spend more time in the city. That leads to community building.
tbauman's review against another edition
4.0
This is a good textbook-like book about how cities should be designed. Gehl focuses on the experience of a pedestrian and how elements of buildings, sidewalks, and roads can make or break the walking experience. The author loves old European cities, particularly Venice, and hates cars. This book is a little idealistic. It doesn't talk much about how a car-oriented city can gradually incorporate what Gehl calls "the human element," instead focusing on new cities and very old cities.
This book is pretty repetitive, which can make it a little boring to read straight through. It also doesn't have the passion of The Death and Life of Great American Cities, or the pragmatism of the Walkable City. Overall, though, it's a good overview of modern urban planning thought.
This book is pretty repetitive, which can make it a little boring to read straight through. It also doesn't have the passion of The Death and Life of Great American Cities, or the pragmatism of the Walkable City. Overall, though, it's a good overview of modern urban planning thought.