Global Compact report 2014 — Gehl Architects
Creating Better Cities Global Compact Report 2014
Contents 1 2 6 10 18
The 10 principles Statement of Continued Support Gehl Architects Overview Gehl Highlighted Projects Gehl Actions
Global Compact Overview Launched in July 2000, the United Nations (UN) Global Compact is both a policy platform and a practical framework for companies that are committed to sustainability and responsible business practices. The UN Global Compact asks companies to embrace, support and enact, within their sphere of influence, a set of core values in the areas of human rights, labour standards, the environment and anticorruption. An integral part of the UN Global Compact commitment are the individual members Communication on Progress (COP).
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The 10 Principles Human Rights
Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights; and Principle 2: Make sure that they are not complicit in human rights abuses.
Labour
Principle 3: Businesses should uphold the freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining; Principle 4: the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour; Principle 5: the effective abolition of child labour; Principle 6: the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
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Environment Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges; Principle 8: undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and Principle 9: encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies. Anti-corruption Principle 10: Businesses should work against corruption in all its forms, including extortion and bribery.
Statement of Continued Support
Gehl Architects joined the United Nations Global Compact in 2008 and we continue to support the initiative. Our vision is to create better cities. We aspire to create cities that are lively, healthy, attractive, sustainable and safe — and thereby improve people’s quality of life. This past year we have been engaged in urban development projects addressing different aspects and challenges of global urbanization – from rapid urbanization, to the massive expansion of private vehicles and thereby unbalanced mobility, to market pressures associated with the renewal of the historic fabric of cities, and the decrease of quality of life in the existing urban cores of cities. All of these challenges are not dependent on geography or place but are issues that
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are growing and which cites share globally. However, all cities also share the key to unlocking these challenges through clear and visionary leadership. The clients and collaborators that we work with all have the ambition to be visionary leaders, and they work with us because they share our values and aim of building “cities for people”, and because they know that we can assist them in their process of developing clear strategies and ensuring the implementation of new ideas and priorities.
engage with the local planning authorities and to improve the quality of public spaces in the existing urban cores of Mar del Plata in Argentina, Cali in Colombia and Xalapa in Mexico. In these cities, pilot projects and temporary interventions illustrate solutions on how public spaces can be improved and bicycle infrastructure implemented. Testing the results prior to implementation is a powerful solution to complex problems where “space” has become a scarce resource.
Throughout the past year we have continued to support and collaborate with the Energy Foundation and their Sustainable Cities program, which focuses on Chinese cities. We have engaged in panel discussions on developing new sustainable guidelines for Chinese urbanization and have been working with local planners and architects using our “public space public life methods” in Shanghai. These methods focus on people centered data and quality of space and result in strategies to improve urban quality, public space networks and quality of life within urban communities.
IADB continues to grow as a partner. We are focused on building knowledge with them, related to the Gehl Methodology, for their staff as well as that of their partner cities in Latin and South America. Our team has also been engaged in a collaborative process which involves working directly for the City of São Paulo on reimagining how key public spaces in the historic part of the city can once again be lively, safe and attractive to people related activities. More than 100 people were engaged in this process, through dialogue, workshops and analysis, including 4 downtown universities. Discussions on who has the right to public spaces in a relatively new democracy such as Brazil is something which is relevant to everyone who engages in
In collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), Gehl Architects have expanded a city program, for 3 cities, throughout the past year. The aim is to
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Gehl Architects was the winner of an international competition for a former railway yard. Many cities face the challenges of increasing density and the typical large scale commercial form and stereotype of programming towards mega blocks, large offices and a limited mix of uses. As a contrast to the Euro Lille development, around the international station node connecting Lille to Paris, as well as London, the Gehl Development Framework ensures a human scale block typology and heritage of existing rail structures as an important element of identity. Rather than designing a new isolated urban district, we aspire to design a piece of city – integrated, compact, and lively in a human scale.
urban issues and dreams of a future where cities such as São Paulo can better balance the needs of the individual, as well as quality of life for urban communities with economic growth of this important region. The final couple of projects that I would like to highlight are located on the European continent – a comprehensive strategy for Moscow’s city center and a development framework for the former railway yards of Lille in France. The Copenhagen based Gehl Architects team has worked directly for the City of Moscow to improve the traffic balance of the inner city. In a sense it is a classic challenge related to parked cars dominating streets, sidewalks and squares, but also a great opportunity to improve the sense of orientation, quality of riverbanks and to celebrate the grandness of the city’s architecture. It is impressive to see how fast the urban government is already acting towards implementing the strategies in order to improve the environment, space, air quality and to celebrate the identity of this great city. Our hope is that these results can impact not only Moscow but also other great cities.
On a global scale, increasingly cities are seeing the value of a different approach, and after 14 years of Gehl Architects’ practice we feel the general global approach to planning is slowly changing from a modernistic and functional view of cities to a more holistic approach, also offering a role for softer social, as well as cultural areas of planning. All ten principles of the United Nations Global Compact are played out in the public realm and in the city and all ten principles can be supported by a sustained focus on making the public realm open, accessible,
The final project to be mentioned this year is located in Lille, France, where
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our effort to improve the world’s cities and make them places of quality for all people. Hence it is with great pride that we express our continued support to the United Nations Global Compact initiative.
democratic and a place of quality for all people. We aspire to address all the issues that have a foundation in the United Nations Global Compact initiative in all of the projects we develop around the world but also through our communication effort in books and films, our capacity building as well as in the office amongst ourselves. The core United Nations Global Compact initiative is at the heart of our work; for more than a decade now, Gehl Architects have not only maintained but strengthened
Helle Søholt Founding Partner and CEO Gehl Architects
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Life
Form
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We focus on the relationship between the built environment and people’s quality of life.
Gehl Architects Overview
The practice Gehl Architects is an urban research and design consultancy offering expertise in the fields of architecture, urban design, and city planning. We address global trends with a people-focused approach, utilizing empirical analysis to understand how the built environment can promote human flourishing. We apply this analysis to strategic planning and humancentered design to empower citizens, decision makers, company leaders, and organizations.
Regardless of the complexity of a project, our process always begins with people. We measure how the city is performing for people to provide guidance for planning, empowerment and design. Our vision is to create resilient places that are livable today and sustainable tomorrow. Our clients share a common long-term commitment to holistically yet incrementally respond to people’s needs to improve the environment in which people live.
Our method and design approach The study of people’s well-being lays the foundation for our strategic planning and design. We begin with: first life – then space – and finally buildings. Our design solutions begin with formulating a vision and a comprehensive program of activities based on the type of life – its activities and attractions – that are inherent in a given area. The next step is to develop a public space network that can support the public life through scale, form and climate. Finally we envision how buildings can contribute to our aspirations for public life in terms of height, massing and scale as well as their functions and interaction with the public realm.
Our work is based on the human dimension – the built environment’s effect on social interaction between people. We consider lively and widely used public space areas to be important keys to quality in cities and to overall wellbeing. Public spaces can also assist in making healthier choices, an easier choice by allowing people to integrate physical activity into their everyday routines by walking, biking or taking transit.
Strategic planning for and with people We take a holistic view to strategic planning, mediating between typical silos of disciplines to ensure that urban interventions are rooted in a comprehensive understanding of how the specific urban space is used.
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Gehl team Our multi-disciplinary team of 46 people include architects, urban designers, landscape architects, graphic designers, sociologists, anthropologists and cultural theorists, who are based between Copenhagen, San Francisco and NYC. Additionally, Gehl Architects employ several Senior Consultants, all of them internationally recognized experts within their field. To promote a better understanding across cultures, our team has a wide variety of national and ethnic backgrounds, and the gender distribution is aimed at being a fair representation of society in general.
established during the many years of research by Jan Gehl. The Gehl team is actively engaging in dialogue around the world to apply 45 years of urban design research, co-creatively with our clients to tailor services that are specific to context, scale and purpose. We work with a wide variety of clients, ranging from mayors of world capitals and large mixed-use property developers to non-governmental organizations, community groups, foundations, universities and housing associations. Learn more about ‘our approach’ on our website
Collaborating with clients and partners around the world, our team works to tailor and contextualize design, planning and research that builds upon the foundation
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/ Gehl Highlighted Projects /
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A New Heart for São Paulo
Global Compact report 2014 — Gehl Architects
By reinvigorating life into the city centre, Gehl Architects’ project in São Paulo will help address these two important issues of crime and safety. By improving access and making it possible for different activities to unfold in a number of public spaces such as Anhangabaú Square, the project will help the city to once again become a welcoming place to spend time – regardless of income, and the expected increase in the city life will eventually help increase people’s sense of security. Four selected public spaces will act as pilot projects for a longer term strategy for the city centre. These include Avenida São João, Rua 25 de Março, Pateo do Collegio & Rua Roberto Simonsen, and Largo São Francisco & Praca Outvidor Pacheco e Silva.
2013 and ongoing Client: São Paulo Urbanismo, City of São Paulo
Due to the enormous growth during the last decades, São Paulo now belongs among the most populous cities in the world. Most of this growth has, however, taken place in the suburban regions, and the population in the inner city has decreased in recent years.
The project also helps to build a more accountable planning process in Brazil’s major city. Gehl Architects has conducted a series of workshops with city agencies, local universities and a whole series of NGO’s and community representatives. In April 2003 everyone – from the head of city planning to the local mayor’s office – joined in dilaogue to identify the problems and potential of their city.
The city centre, which used to be an area full of life, is not a very welcoming place today, characterised by exploding traffic, empty buildings, discount outlets and parking lots. The deserted city centre is a symbol of unequal development where high property prices have pushed many people out to the periphery, and the area also struggles – as many other big cities in the region – with issues of crime and safety.
Read more on our website
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Moscow
Towards a Great City for People
2011 to 2013 Client: GenPlan, City Planning Department, City of Moscow
in how they move around their city, e.g. by making the streets easier to navigate and walk around.
Over the years Moscow has developed into a city which focuses mainly on providing an efficient transport system, and to a large extent forgetting about the people that inhabit, move and spend time in the city.
Some of the recommendations have already been implemented, actions such as enforcing parking bans along sidewalks and the removal of visual clutter of signs and billboards, but more importantly the project has started a conversation about the city, what qualities it should offer and how people could possibly use it in new ways. The public spaces of Moscow are often formal squares centered around monuments rather than the people who spend time there. A number of strategies that we have proposed involve ideas of how to transform the public spaces in Moscow into places where people can express themselves in different ways, such as establishing a river park.
As a result the city has exploded with traffic in a way that puts pedestrians at risk and limits the possibilities of enjoying the many assets that the city has to offer. Gehl Architects has conducted a Public Space, Public Life survey, which documents, analyzes the challenges related to car traffic and highlights the possibilities of building a new urban culture in Moscow which focuses on urban quality of life.
The City is waking up to the needs of its people, and has already turned Gorky Park into a thriving public space with sports facilities, cafÊs, gardens and outdoor tribunes. Every day thousands of people gather at this formerly derelict amusement park, proving that Moscow’s citizens are interested and eager to spend time in public spaces.
A key element in the strategy has been to offer the people of Moscow more choice
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Gorky Park is just one example. Many other examples can follow and the impact of the project cannot as of yet be determined but it has marked the beginning of a process of imagining – both for planners and citizens in Moscow. In the fall of 2013 our report ‘Moscow: Towards a Great City for People’ was made into a street exhibition in the city
center, sharing Gehl Architects’ findings, ideas and visions with the people of Moscow – bringing them on board in a process of change for the future where the City of Moscow is already taking concrete steps to make change happen. Read more on our website
Tverskaya before (above) and after (beneath)
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Gothenburg Rivercity
and thoroughly understood the preconditions for the development. This included three preparation workshops focusing on:
2009 to 2013 Client: City of Gothenburg
Like many other cities around the world Gothenburg has been and still is in the process of transformation from a heavy industrial city to a postmodern city.
—New — planning tools such as new partnership models, steering tools, public involvement, etc. —Understanding — the challenges related to climate and environment —Issues — of social integration Based on these workshops, 10 international teams were invited to Gothenburg to work together for 5 days with the City of Gothenburg to produce strategies, concepts and ideas for the development. Rather than competing, the teams were meant to complement each other in order to produce the most integrated vision and strategy. This principle was later repeated in the development of a more specific site, where each team was responsible for specific teams such as climate/water, parks/public spaces, programming of functions and densification and economic drivers – in the end delivering an integrated plan. Once the vision for the whole harbor area was approved by the local politicians, an intensive public consultation process followed including new online forum, a
One of the major tasks in recent years has been the redevelopment of the inner harbor area. The challenge lies in how such a big and strategically important place in the city can be transformed in a way that corresponds with the demands of today’s society? To meet this challenge, a new way of conducting planning is needed. Gehl Architects was hired in as consultants in late 2009 to help facilitate a process which would both help to establish a more cross-disciplinary and integrated approach among the city staff as well as securing political ownership and public involvement. Instead of developing the big harbor area in a piece by piece way, a new approach was developed that looked at the area as a whole
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introduce and slowly build a new planning culture in Gothenburg in terms of new ways of collaborating and new ways of process management, which is needed to secure more responsive planning.
public exhibition and a local secretariat that could be present in the area that was to be developed. In the end 9-10.000 people were involved over a period of 2-3 months. The impact of the project has been to
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/ Gehl Actions /
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Engage in Partnerships
In recognition of the complexity facing cities today – thus also the complexity of solutions needed – Gehl has in recent years engaged in various partnerships with relevant partners with whom we can work towards building and developing cities for human flourishing on a global scale. Partnership with UN Habitat Gehl has formalized a strategic partnership with UN Habitat. The aims are to strengthen and expand the knowledge about good urban design in terms of building sustainable cities in the developing world as well as to develop local capacity for developing and implementing good urban design practices and public space design and management.
Partnerships with universities In order to maintain a strong link to research and new knowledge within the field of urban design and architecture we have continued to expand our relationship with varying international universities. Over the course of the year, numerous interns have joined our work environment. This collaborative relationship enables us to pass on our own experience and knowledge to future planners, architects and others working or just beginning to look for work within urban development. In addition, it is our aim to grow research related projects within Gehl Institute where the research core is split between Gehl and the partnering university. At this time, we have established partnerships with universities both in Europe, Denmark and in the US, including ITU, DTU and CBS in Denmark, Seattle University in the US, Bauhaus in Germany, among others.
Partnership with Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) PwC and Gehl are currently collaborating to understand how the region of Møre Romsdal can be strengthened by three key cities – Ålesund, Molde and Kristiansund – becoming the catalysts which drives the region. PwC is leading the charge in understanding the social capabilities of these cities while Gehl is analyzing the urban capitol.
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Advocacy through Leadership
An important part of our work involves giving talks in a variety of international cities around the world. This form of engagement provides us the opportunity to put ‘the livable city’ on the agenda and to discuss with leaders the act of promoting and developing cities with a human focus.
and World Urban Forum, among others. Taking leadership in the field of urban planning also involves influencing change at the policy level. Inspired by the work of Jan Gehl, the new National Architecture Policy in Denmark is entitled ‘Mennesker i Centrum’ (Putting People First). We also prioritize our involvement in think thanks as a means to be strong advocates for ‘cities for people’. In the past year CEO Helle Søholt has been a member of the Danish think thank ‘Byen 2025’ initiated by the Ministry of Housing, Urban and Rural Affairs. The result of this work is a visionary document focusing on how to maintain and develop strong urban communities in a time, when cities are becoming increasingly segregated.
In the past year we have talked at events such as the International Transport Forum,
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Engage Globally, Act Locally
Global Compact report 2014 — Gehl Architects
While engaging in global discussions about how cities develop, it is equally important to anchor our work in concrete local situations. This requires a profound understanding of local conditions both in terms of local challenges to be dealt with as well as unique opportunities for development. In the past year we have taken various actions to have a stronger local presence in the various contexts where we work. In 2013 we started up a project in the seaside town of Mar del Plata in Argentina. The project was organized in such a way that the Project Manager was posted in Mar del Plata for 3 months. The aim of this was to allow for a very strong capacity building component, where local planning staff were trained in methods to secure a people-focused design, and it also gave us the opportunity to develop better informed solutions based on local insights and discussions.
In addition, at the start of 2014 we opened two Gehl Studios in the US, based in San Francisco and New York, which have allowed us to be closer to our US and Latin American clients and collaborators and to follow our projects more closely and take stronger local actions.
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Enhancing Accountability
As consultants we are concerned with how to secure long lasting change. An aspect of this is to understand the effect of our work and learn from it. We therefore strive to establish long lasting relationships with our clients which allow for this process of securing accountability. A concrete example of this includes: The Pilot Project approach In recent years we have introduced the idea of pilot projects – a quick way to test, measure and refine urban design ideas. This approach is now becoming an increasingly strategic initiative as it allows for direct dialogue with different stakeholders about their needs and aspirations.
for San Francisco’s Park-Let program which over the years has become an increasingly formalized part of San Francisco’s strategy for the development of quality in the ‘public space’. By initiating the LIZ program the city is attempting to take the Park-Let concept to a new level. In practice 10 sites were identified along the main street Market Street to become “Bureaucracy Free” zones where the sometimes slow and frustrating processes associated with developing projects in public spaces, are being lifted and streamlined to create greater incentives for private sector organizations to invest in urban projects. As it is the case with Park-Lets, the private party finances, maintains and operates the projects and must also remove and clean up afterwards. In return, the LIZ operators have control over a piece of real estate on
In San Francisco the pilot initiative is named LIZ – Living Innovation Zones – and it has been developed in partnership between San Francisco’s Planning Department, the Mayor’s Office of Civic Innovation(MOCI). In a way, LIZ is as an evolution of the concept
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the sidewalk on San Francisco’s busiest and most visited street. In return all initiatives must contribute to a set of success criteria:
—Encourage — Innovation and Experimentation – in everyday situations —Learn — and Share – public spaces to adapt to the latest innovation, trends and needs of our society.
—Enhance — Public Space – as places to meet, socialize and safely and comfortably spend time. —Strengthen — Economic Development – understanding that people spaces are good for business
Learn more about this initiative on our website
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Measuring the Effect
One of our core services is the Public Space Public Life Surveys – surveys that evaluate the quality of cities from a people focus and formulate recommendations for improvement. These surveys have been repeated in a number of cities all over the world as a way of documenting change. In addition to the PSPL we have in the past year started to develop other ways of measuring the effect of public space improvements. One such example is a current project ‘World Class Streets 2.0’ in NY. This project follows up on our work related to ‘World Class Streets’ from 2007 where a number of public spaces across the wider city region were selected for repurposing, this time researching how the public space projects can foster quality of life and impact equitable growth patterns in cities.
to reclaim space in their neighborhoods and how reclaiming streets impacts these local neighborhoods and improves quality of life for all citizens, not just the business community. The project seeks to develop indicators to investigate the equity impact by gaining knowledge about how local communities became engaged around transport and public space projects; and if they did do so to address social, economic, health and equity problems. Learn more about this initiative on our website
The impacts from the first World Class Streets study have begun to be measured by the City, primarily with a focus on citywide economic impact from sites in central business districts, such as Herald and Union Squares. What has not been measured yet is how communities became empowered
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NEW YORK
Community Districts with Plaza Projects Neighborhoods that lack Open Space
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