YES, that would be the very same Jan Gehl mentioned in a post last week! At this lecture he will propose an inspiring vision for New York City’s future, based on his 30-year international career “making neighborhoods lively, diverse and safe”. He also has a great sense of humor!

For starters, Gehl posits that “Half of Manhattan Trips Could Be Done By Bike”::

REPORTER: Jan Gehl is an urban designer, also from Copenhagen, who advises the city’s Department of Transportation. Like his friend and mentor, the late Jane Jacobs, Gehl speaks of the ‘humanization’ of the city’s streets, which he thinks have become ‘infested’ by cars. But Gehl thinks Manhattan, given its density and flatness, is perfectly positioned for a wide-scale conversion.

GEHL: It would be a piece of cake to have a really high class bicycle system which could take care of half of the commuting in Manhattan.

…

In Europe increasingly we are trying to make the cities so that they are wonderful places, where you like to go out and sit and have meals and watch your fellow citizens, talk with them in spaces which are not completely filled with noise.

photo: Transportation Alternatives

Here are the event details (admission is free, but RSVP is required)… if you can’t make it, look for a report on Gehl’s presentation here later in the week.