People's activities can be classified broadly into necessary activities, optional individual activities, and social activities. Integration between all three of these types of activities is the key to making urban areas especially attractive. Many cities in North America have a very commercial and rational approach to people and public spaces; in contrast, some other cities, especially in Europe, have an almost opposite, people-oriented approach. This paper describes how the Danish city of Copenhagen was transformed gradually from a city with a car-oriented centre into a people-oriented city during the last 36 years. Copenhagen has pioneered methods for collecting useful data about the use of public space, and major surveys of the street life in the centre of Copenhagen were conducted in 1968, 1986, and 1996. The main findings of the surveys were as follows. More people now use the city's public spaces, pedestrian traffic has risen by 25%, and its (very important) recreational and social activities have increased by four times. The public spaces are being used in more active new ways. The quality of the public spaces is very important for the volume and character of life in them. All public spaces of good quality are being used intensively. The policy of developing public spaces gradually has been very successful.
Abstract