Customer Reviews

Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Few books - if any - have had a stronger impact on Scandanavian architecture and planning in recent years than this one has had.

Jan Gehl, senior lecturer in urban design at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architectiur in Copenhagen, has widely and extensively studied how people use public spaces and how planning and architecture encourage or discourage social activities and public life.

His strong advocacy and detailed proposals for a humanistics approach to architecture, as presented in this book, is now available for the first time in English.
--- from book's back cover

This is a fantastic book, putting substance and quantitative research behind urban planning. It isn't about the art of urban design, but how spaces are actually used, why, and what designers can do to improve cities.

needed this for my studio class. The principles are old, but classic and still appropriate for today. For anytime. Timeless, I guess.

A classmate in Architecture School recommended this book to me because I was particularly interested in the social qualities of Architecture. We always wonder why spaces either work or just do not. Jan Gehl has made a career of asking why and how people use space and then finding answers. This work takes into account human behaviors in relation to the built environment. Why do people sit where they do in a public park, why do we love the streets of Europe? In general the ideas and situations studied by Gehl are almost universally and eternally relevant. This is a must have for those serious about planning and creating truly enjoyable public spaces. I highly look forward to reading Gehl's new work and recommend going to his firm's website to see the work they have been doing since this was written. Amazing diagrams.

Had been looking for this classic book for months now, and finally it got reprinted - and is available at very reasonable price. Anyone with an interest in urban design and life in cities will find this book an excellent guide and source of inspiration.

Why this brilliant book is so expensive is ridiculous. As great as it is, it is a conundrum as to why there have not been more copies printed to bring the price down. I suggest going to your local library and just xeroxing the whole thing at some cheap copy place. I xeroxed the whole book for like 3 dollars.

If the price ever drops to a reasonable one then I will buy a copy. When that happens I will revise this review to a 5 star.