A Good City Is Like Lastly By Jan Gehl

Compared to Jane Jacobs’s work, one may consider Jan Gehl’s as more “delicate” thought, which was started from the human scale. While Jane Jacobs has mainly concentrated the observation on observation of a comparatively larger scale, district, neighborhood and city, as social phenomenon, Jan Gehl followed her footprints on public space, on the other hand, got into deeper and more literally into smaller scale of human dimensions, including people’s personal or physical experience of the space, how individuals encounter space or how they perceive the world with difference senses. After forty years of this kind of intimate contact of human behavior, rather than a theoretical engagement of urban fabrics, Jan Gehl believed that “a good city is like
It has re-conclude his statement about “self-reinforcing” on interaction or mutual support among individuals towards the public space. Therefore, according to Gehl, the unique and inspirational methods of investigation and evaluation of public space, one can say that his concern on human body, movement, sense, interaction and behavior has become an important prerequisite for city planning that is effective not only in Copenhagen but also in worldwide ranges. As for the case of Hong Kong, one can observe that the public space is more alive and inviting in the older areas, such as Temple Streets in Yau Ma Tei or Li Yuen Street in Sheung Wan, where there are plenty of interactions among residents and pass-byes. Public social life is one of the essential elements of these areas. However, in the highly developed or continuing developing and expanding areas, like Admiralty or some places in New Territories, the use of public space is decreasing with the tendency that the building and the units are getting bigger and bigger, while humans remain slow and small. The type of incompatibility may eventually fail in creating successful public space.