ABSTRACT
In October 2003 the Danish architect and planner, Professor Jan Gehl, reminded a packed audience at Glasgow’s Lighthouse architectural centre that in serving the cause of successful urban design and planning one should remember these priorities: ‘First, the people, then the spaces, and then the buildings.’ Such, he said, had informed the programme of work designed to make a more convivial city of Copenhagen, which he and his colleagues have successfully undertaken over the past thirty years. In answering a question from the audience about values and design, Gehl reminded everybody of what architect Ralph Erskine had replied when asked what was the most important quality any architect needed to possess: ‘Above all, you must love people.’
