Abstract: Cities for People Neil Hrushowy With its legacy of forty years of improvements to the pedestrian envi- ronment, Copenhagen, Denmark, provides a living testament to both the feasibility of the walking environ- ment and the quality-of-life improve- ments communities can expect if they promote it. The decision to hold the fifth Walk 21 conference there, and to title it “Cities for People,” was intended to drive home this relation- ship between good urban design and good walking environments. Walk 21 is a global partnership of experts whose aim is to raise aware- ness of walking issues. 1 But this year’s conference was also hosted by the Center for Public Space Research, with major funding from the Real- dania Foundation. 2 The Center’s director, Jan Gehl, has long argued there can be no vitality on the streets of any town or city without exchange between people. Gehl, whose report “Public Spaces, Public Life” won an EDRA/Places research award in 1998, believes public-space designs that do not explicitly take the human body into account cannot possibly produce an urban environment of high quality. “Cities for People” therefore challenged participants to address the sterile streetscape and public spaces typical of new development, and expand discussion on the benefits of walking beyond issues of health and obesity. Gehl said he felt these issues had been thoroughly explored at the last Walk 21 conference in Portland, Oregon. In Copenhagen he tried to steer the discussion toward such other themes as social encounter, joy and exploration, childhood cog- nitive development, environmental quality, and tourism — to name the concerns of only a few of the more ambitious presentations. Reclaiming Pedestrian Space Keynote speakers at the confer- ence recounted their experiences in a number of cities that have pursued a vibrant public-life agenda, including walking, through better design. Rob Adams’s presentation described how strong political sup- port, even within the constraints of a limited budget, may produce incre- mental, yet substantial change in the built environment. Adams is Chief Architect of Melbourne, Australia, a city that decided to change its Central Business District to a Central Activ- ity District in the mid-1980s. The decision has resulted in a fifteen-fold increase in the number of housing units there, a renewal of interest in the conservation and retrofit of historic buildings, and an explosion in side- walk cafe seats from zero to almost five hundred today. The last change was achieved despite repeated warn- ings by skeptics that Melbourne’s cli- mate and culture were not amenable to displays of public life — a critique strongly reminiscent of opposition to Copenhagen’s decision to pedestrian- ize streets in the Central City forty years ago. A second keynote examined the transformation of Bogata, Colombia, a city now celebrated for innovation by urban planners. Enrique Penalosa, its former mayor, explained how much of this success has derived from strong and sustained political support for the rights of pedestrians. Bogata’s pedestrianization campaign helped renew trust in government, produce a dramatic drop in violent crime, and repopulate the city’s public spaces, he said. At a time when it is inordinately difficult to persuade U.S. politicians to invest in the public realm, Penalosa argued the example of Bogata dem- onstrates how good design, especially when tied to a commitment in social equity, can improve the quality of life for all residents. A third keynote speaker was Barbara Southworth, an urban designer for Cape Town, South Africa, and winner of the 2003 Ruth and Ralph Erskine Award. The award, which comes with a prize of $10,000, is given once every three years to individuals, groups or organizations working in innovative ways to produce socially progressive architecture or urban design. 3 Southworth spoke of her efforts to create new and vibrant public spaces in her country’s predominantly black townships. During the Apartheid years, there was almost no public investment in these areas, and as a result there were very few public spaces in the townships where people could gather, shop, or exchange goods and ideas. To remedy this situation, Southworth had to contend with dis- trust among many segments of the citizenry. But she credited a combina- tion of passion, purpose, respect for the opinions of township residents, and a strong program of public input for her success. Today Southworth is particularly encouraged by the ways a previously ignored constituency has taken own- ership of both the new spaces and the processes of creating them. Among other things, this commitment has demonstrated to politicians that urban design can become a true vehicle for public concern — and votes. An International View The keynote presentations were typical of the broad geographic and topical scope of research shared at the conference. Conference organiz- ers structured this work under three themes: Achieving the Vision, Urban Quality of Life, and Architecture and Design. Presenters in the first area focused on political structures that need to be in place and economic Hrushowy / Cities for People
Publication Year: 2004
Publication Date: 2004-10-01
Language: en
Type: article
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