This post is courtesy of Russell over at Civil Pandemonium. Renowned Danish urban designer/architect Jan Gehl, author of the report Place for People, 10 years ago that was commissioned by the Melbourne City Council is back in Melbourne to give a public lecture.

Jan Gehl has played a similar role in Adelaide. His 2002 Report Public Spaces and Public Life in the City of Adelaide led to the Council's New Directions Strategy. This was a response to Adelaide becoming a city invaded by cars.

Gehl has raised the issue of the quality of our public spaces in Adelaide (they are poor) and fostered the development of a city culture, which is the way people think about cities and conceive them. He argued for increase in the city's residential population, a reduction in traffic through the CBD, the growth of a cafe culture and the widening of footpaths.

There is still a long way to go to make the city more pedestrian-friendly. We need more small parks and plazas within five minutes' walk of every city building, less cars and more greened streets.

Gehl's central concern is the quality of our public spaces. His key argument is that need to create well-designed public spaces to encourage life between buildings. He concerned is with how people use and perceive public space, and how good urban design can improve the function of city space and people�s experiences with it.

In this interview in Metropolis Magazine Gehl says the key questions about the virtue of public spaces are:

"What are public spaces good for? How can we make them more comfortable for people? How can we invite people to use cities and public spaces and prevent cities from being empty and abandoned? On the contrary, we want people to do the opposite: for people to walk and use their bicycles."