In June I relocated to New York for the summer to work for Gehl, an urban design consultancy with services that span across scales from strategic visions to design and implementation to make cities for people.

I was part of a team working in the Brooklyn neighbourhood of Brownsville, supporting the Brownsville Community Justice Center analyse how the public spaces around their Center are performing to inform future urban design projects.

My first blog post introduces tools that form part of Gehl’s Public Life service, which helps clients measure how public space is performing for people and develops actions for how to improve it. We know that design affects people’s behavior, but it can sometimes feel subjective when assessments are being done. Gehl has developed a worksheet that outlines Twelve Quality Criteria, which is used to help talk through how public space makes us feel and how this may connect to the physical environment.

My second blog post explores the initial findings from the Public Space Public Life survey carried out by staff and young people at BCJC. Gehl is assisting Brownsville Community Justice Center to measure the before and after impacts of their placemaking projects on Belmont Avenue, in the heart of Brownsville in Brooklyn, New York.