There have been numerous counter reactions and an incipient development of new traffic planning principles in response. Many European countries and North America experienced the car invasion early on and have watched city quality deteriorate year by year. The risk of accident to pedestrians and bicyclists has been great throughout the rise in car traffic, and the fear of accident even greater. Throughout the entire period of car encroachment, cities have tried to remove bicycle traffic from their streets. Our discussion will focus on two important sectors where targeted efforts can satisfy the requirement for safety in city space: traffic safety and crime prevention. In this section we deal with the safe city issue with the goal of ensuring good cities by inviting walking, biking and staying. In general, life and people themselves make the city more inviting and safe in terms of both experienced and perceived security. Visit the Island Press website to find many more great titles by the nation’s leading publisher of books on environmental issues.įeeling safe is crucial if we hope to have people embrace city space. Donate to Streetsblog and Streetfilms and you’ll qualify to win a copy of the book, courtesy of Island Press. The pieces are excerpts from his book, “Cities for People,” published by Island Press.

Photos: Jan GehlĮditor’s note: Streetsblog is thrilled to launch a three-part series today by renowned Danish architect and livable streets luminary Jan Gehl.

Subsequent studies have shown that there is less crime and greater security than in other similar developments.

Sibelius Park, a housing complex in Copenhagen, has cooperated with the Danish Crime Prevention Council to carefully define private, semiprivate, semipublic and public territories in the complex.

Cities for People by Jan Gehl