City of people and light
Integrating energy efficiency and human well-being into architecture and urban planning, creates green liveable cities like Copenhagen.
People have always come first in the mind of Jan Gehl, the 81-year-old Danish architect. Throughout his career, his aim was to improve the quality of life in cities by focusing on the needs and desires of pedestrians and cyclists. He wanted cities to be liveable, easy to move around, with green spaces and light, and to stimulate, rather than smother, people’s senses. Today these goals have a double mission: to improve people’s well-being and to reduce emissions. FORESIGHT has taken a walk through the streets of Copenhagen and looked at how the city’s space and light accommodate people and, increasingly, generate energy. The building occupied by the Copenhagen International School in the Nordhavn district is an exciting example where space, light, human well-being and energy efficiency have come together in harmony, offering a blueprint for future sunlit projects.
PHOTO: Lars Just, TEXT: Philippa Nuttall Jones
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