Public Life Studies From a Historical Perspective

Abstract

The first chapter gives a general introduction to public life study. Chapter 2 presents a number of basic questions in this field of studies. Chapter 3 provides an overview of tools used to study the interaction of public space and public life. Chapter 4 summarizes the social history and academic background for public life studies. Key people and ongo- ing themes tie the field together. Chapter 5 contains several reports from research frontlines with various views on pub- lic life studies. Early studies are emphasized, because the methods were developed in order to describe the consid- erations about their use and further development. Chap- ter 6 reviews examples from practice, the so-called public space-public life studies developed by Jan Gehl, and later Gehl Architects, and used systematically since the end of the 1960s in many different cities: large, medium, small, lo- cated north, south, east and west. Therefore, today there is a large body of material from which to draw conclusions. Chapter 7 recounts the history of the use of public life stud- ies in Copenhagen as a political tool. In conclusion, public life studies are put into a historic, social and academic per- spective – in relation to research as well as practice.