Life Between Building

Jan Gehl, Royal Danish Academy of Fine Art and Architecture - ‘Life Between Building’, Arkitektens Forlag, 1996

‘When people choose to sit in a public environment, it is almost always to enjoy the advantages the place offers - the particular place, space, weather, view of whatever is going on, and preferably all at once.’

‘It has already been mentioned that the opportunity to see events in the area is a dominant factor in choice of sitting place, but other factors such as sun and wind direction, are involved also.’

Whenever 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 vicinity of events that are already in progress.

Through the mass media we are informed about the larger, more sensational world events, but by being with others we learn about the more common but equally important details. We discover how others work, behave, and dress, and we obtain knowledge about the people we work with, live with, and so forth. By means off all this information we establish a confidential relationship with the world around us. A person we have often met on the street becomes a person we ‘know’.

Source : http://lifestyle.kompasiana.com/catatan/2012/02/16/warga-kota-memerlukan-ruang-duduk/