Changing Mindsets

Changing Mindsets
Jan Gehl's Life of Work

The classic of modern urbanism Danish architect Jan Gehl has been working for decades to improve the quality of the city's spaces both in Copenhagen and around the world. The exhibition 'Changing Mindsets ' presents Jan Gehl's main theoretical and research works on peoples' behavior in urban contexts. Gehl's methods are humanistic: he emphasizes that cities need to be designed for people and not for logistical purposes. Good architecture distinguishes not only in form, but also in the interaction between shape and life. Jan Gehl says: "I have always been more concerned about changing the mindset of people - and then someone else will be able to change cities."

Jan Gehl's ideas and texts are included in the interdisciplinary courses of urban studies that have been taught in Lithuanian universities since 2007. Although urban planning, orientated towards humanism, is not yet widely used in Lithuania, its principles are well-known to urban activists. Recent hot debates on the public spaces in Lithuania's cities revealed need to involve sensitive analysis of public spaces in the planning processes. It is expected that acquaintance with Gehl's works and methods will make a productive turn in the discussions about urban planning principles.

Organizers: Danish culture institute in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, National Gallery of Art, Architecture Fund

Curators: Eric Messerschmidt, Liva Kreislere, Jekaterina Lavrinec

Partners: Danish Embassy in Lithuania, Danish Culture Ministery, Laboratory of Urban Games and Research "Laimikis"

This project was partly financed by the Lithuanian Council for Culture

Sponsor: "Skandinaviški interjerai"