Copenhagen Honors Jan Gehl at 90 With "Cities for People" Exhibition

Copenhagen has topped the Economist Intelligence Unit's Global Liveability Index for the second consecutive year — and the Danish Architecture Center credits part of that achievement to one man turning 90: architect and urban planner Jan Gehl.

To mark his birthday, the Danish Architecture Center (DAC) is presenting an exhibition and a full calendar of activities centered on Gehl's role in urban development worldwide. The main exhibition, titled Cities for People, opens on World Architecture Day, October 5, and was developed in collaboration with Gehl Studio and Jan Gehl himself.

Gehl has spent his career on city life and people-centered urban development. He founded Gehl Architects (now Gehl Studio) in 2000 and has published extensively on urban design methodologies for lively, healthy, human-centric environments. DAC describes his 1971 book Life Between Buildings as his most defining work; it has since been translated into 30 languages. The book drew on the ideas of urban theorist Jane Jacobs, joining her in questioning heavily trafficked boulevards, freestanding buildings, and the large, empty spaces characteristic of car-centric design.

His most recent book, A Good City – The Short Story, was written with Copenhagen's former city architect, Camilla van Deurs.

Gehl's core argument has not changed in six decades:

A good city is one that takes people as its starting point. We are walking, sensing and social beings who naturally seek out places with shelter and a sense of presence – where we're protected from traffic, wind and cold, and where we can meet others and find safety in a social setting. It's completely instinctive and rooted in the biological evolution of Homo sapiens. — Jan Gehl

A shift that started with a challenge

"People-first cities" is a concept widely recognized today, but in the 1960s urban planning was primarily concerned with buildings, cars, and traffic, according to DAC. The institution says the shift in perspective grew out of a challenge posed by Gehl's wife, psychologist Ingrid Gehl, who drew attention to the needs and behaviors of people moving, meeting, and living together daily in cities. The result was a new approach to urbanism grounded in experience and in "the life between buildings."

Copenhagen's harbor baths, bike lanes, parks, squares, and public spaces demonstrate the practical application of these ideas — the city's built environment woven around people's lives rather than the reverse.

Inside the exhibition

Cities for People draws on Gehl's life's work and his 12 quality criteria for public urban spaces, exploring how people-centered urban design can improve citizens' health, well-being, communities, and quality of life. DAC frames the show around a conviction: public space and urban design can support communities when planning begins with people's everyday lives, before streets are drawn and buildings are built. The approach builds on the principles of Life Between Buildings and is expressed through immersive and participatory experiences.

Visitors will physically experience when a place feels safe or unsafe, and how the same public space can feel very different depending on age, gender, and life situation. They are invited to imagine cities with room for both community and freedom, energy and calm, and to share ideas about the kind of public space that brings joy.

DAC is also developing a special AfterDAC program exploring the exhibition's themes through conversations and debates, including one between Jan Gehl and architect Ane Cortzen.

The stakes are stated plainly: with upwards of 70 percent of the world's population expected to live in cities, DAC brings to its main exhibition halls the question of how to create cities that allow people to thrive amid a complex, contemporary lifestyle. Gehl's career opens reflections on concepts such as human scale, urban life, and life between buildings — now firmly established in the international urban planning lexicon.

"A huge achievement"

Kent Martinussen of the Danish Architecture Center assessed Gehl's legacy in direct terms:

Jan Gehl has shown the world that the perceived quality of a city is primarily achieved through understanding people's needs and through caring about how people live as individuals and in communities. This is a clear and compelling idea, but it requires complex knowledge and political support to implement for the benefit of all in the city. Jan Gehl's and Gehl Studio's consulting has proven effective, and their work has altered our fundamental understanding of what is considered a good city and how to design it. This is a huge achievement.

That idea — obvious today, radical in the 1960s — will now be tested on visitors themselves when the exhibition opens on October 5.