Case Studies

Neigbourhood Farming in Breda (NL)

  • Posted on: 4 September 2017
  • By: Don Guikink

Short Summary

The neighbourhood "Ginneken" in Breda (near Tilburg) in the South of the Netherlands is a residential area with quite a lot of green space around (the Mastbosch, the oldest cultivated forest in the country). Ginneken (5000 inhabitants; Breda 200.000 inhabitants) has quite a strong neighbourhood community with lots of activities that are being organised, either planned or spontaneously. One of the residents had taken initiative to start a neighbourhood garden in an unused part of the public space. In the public space they grow vegetables together.

Guideline to promote a child-friendly city development

  • Posted on: 22 August 2017
  • By: Barbara Kieser

Neighbourhoods and cities are usually planned from a grown-up’s perspective. Children have different needs towards their surroundings. The guideline “Auf Augenhöhe 1,20m” (“at eye level 1,20m”, i.e. at a child’s eye level) developed by the canton Basel-Stadt provides inputs for the conception, planning, implementation and operating of child-friendly spaces in the children’s living environment.

Strengthening the social cohesion in a neighbourhood in Switzerland

  • Posted on: 22 August 2017
  • By: Barbara Kieser

The city of Rorschach participated in a federal programme with the aim of creating attractive public spaces and strengthening the social cohesion in one neighbourhood. The creation of a neighbourhood office and a neighbourhood meeting point as well as the transformation of two streets into encounter zones proved very successful. The residents of the neighbourhood developed a sense of affiliation, ownership and solidarity.

Reclaiming the streets – Mumbai

  • Posted on: 21 August 2017
  • By: Susanne Wrighton
Mumbai

Because of a new community initiative in Mumbai the citizens get the chance to reclaim public spaces which are occupied by cars, motorcycles, hawkers and illegal encroachments. On Sundays there are no cars allowed on one 6.5 km stretch to the north of the old centre of the city between 7 and 11am. The local people come out on the streets and claim the street with bikes, skateboards, yoga mats and footballs. Moreover the children have the opportunity to play outside and the seniors can enjoy some board games.

Melbourne – Australia

  • Posted on: 21 August 2017
  • By: Susanne Wrighton
Melbourne, Australia

In 1994 Jan Gehl worked with Melbourne City Council to analyse the challenges and potential of the city centre, because Melbourne had no public squares and a low quality of social life. With the help of Public Space/Public Life surveys Gehl could measure people-oriented indicators like how and where people walk and spend time, and what else they do in public spaces at different times of the day and week. Based on Jan Gehl’s findings, Melbourne’s city agencies worked over the next decade to achieve an impressive number of urban improvements.

Market Street – San Francisco

  • Posted on: 21 August 2017
  • By: Susanne Wrighton
Market Street, San Francisco, USA

The Market Street connects San Francisco Bay to the hills of the city, and downtown businesses to the surrounding neighbourhoods, and is therefore ideally located. It is one of the West Coast’s most iconic streets, but hasn’t realized its full potential. Hence, the city hired Gehl Architects in 2010 to lead the urban design that will reinvigorate Market Street as San Francisco’s civic, cultural and economic centre.

Unrolling a Welcome Mat for the People of New York – A Gehl project

  • Posted on: 21 August 2017
  • By: Susanne Wrighton
Welcome Mat - New York

The Department of Transport in New York wished to achieve a reduction of traffic, increase walking and cycling and to improve public life. But New York had a dominating car culture and in addition infrastructure and systems were out of date. Therefore, the Department of Transport needed experience, inspiration and concrete tools to transform New York in a sustainable city on a human scale. Through his projects and researches Gehl Architects from Copenhagen had the required prerequisites to help and to transform New York.

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