Sublime

the battle for quality is won or lost at the small scale

The vibrant “life between buildings” in Europe is a result of iteration as much as good design. As Gehl points out, urban planning didn’t come into its own until the Renaissance, and many European city centers formed prior to that. They “evolved through a process that often took many hundreds of years… this slow process permitted continual adjustme

To be able to move about easily and confidently, to be able to linger in cities and residential areas, to be able to take pleasure in spaces, buildings, and city life, and to be able to meet and get together with other people – informally or in more organized fashion – these are fundamental to good cities and good building projects today, as in the

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In connection with the effort to give the positive processes a chance, it is important to note that life between buildings, the people and events that can be observed in a given space, is a product of number and duration of the individual events. It is not the number of people or events, but rather the number of minutes spent outdoors that is impor

cities should be designed for people,

Wherever there are people – in buildings, in neighborhoods, in city centers, in recreational areas, and so on – it is generally true that people and human activities attract other people. People are attracted to other people. They gather with and move about with others and seek to place themselves near others. New activities begin in the vicinity o

When buildings are narrow, the street length is shortened, the walking distances are reduced, and street life is enhanced. (Competition project for the extension of Rørås, Norway.) Narrow street frontages mean short distances between entrances – and entrances are where the majority of events nearly always take place.

Walkable neighborhoods where an intergenerational mix of community members can bump into each other while they carry out the most frequent journeys of daily life (work, school, play, food, etc.) are the best way for people to see each other.