Dreams On Wheels

Since 12 June the exhibition Dreams on Wheels is in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The city learns now that cycling is not only about sport and can be a pleasant way of mobility in such a beautiful city as Rio de Janeiro. Through the Danish Cultural Institute and the Danish Embassy in Brazil, that brought the exhibition, there were activities regarding the theme of the exhibition such as a seminar, speeches and bike rides. The list of activities included a visit to one of the cycling paths of the city and a check list was made. After the visit, participants could discuss the points that needed to be changed from the user´s point of view.

A report with these suggestions will be delivered to the mayor of the city. Almost two hundred people attended the opening night, including the Secretary of Culture of Rio de Janeiro. Also people from other states, non-governmental organisations and the society in general. Families were able to teach children how cycling can be healthy for the environment, to the city and themselves. At the end of the exhibition, visitors saw how one of the oldest means of transport could be transformed into the most current, practical, modern and convenient ally in urban mobility and increase the quality of life in Brazilian cities as well.

The schedule – Rio de Janeiro: The exhibition is on show at Centro de Arte Municipal Hélio Oiticica Rua Luís de Camões, 60 Centro – Rio de Janeiro
12 June – Opening cocktail
13 June – 20km bicycle ride from Copacabana Beach to the Exhibition Centre . A speech by Zé Lobo, director of the NGO Transporte Ativo about urban mobility and cycling
16 June – Seminar ‘Bicycle and the cities’ Lectures and discussions about urban mobility, urban design and city’s for people
17 June – Visit to one of the bicycle paths of the city (Botafogo-Lagoa). Discussion and elaboration of a dossier suggesting improvements to the path and the neighborhood
08 July – Speech ‘A Carioca (person from Rio de Janeiro) clycling in Copenhague) by Zé Lobo, director of the NGO Transporte Ativo
25 July – The exhibition travels to Brasília

Back to travel schedule

Jan Gehl’s urban quality firm Gehl Architects, which he founded with Helle Søholt in 2000, is the world’s leading urban space planning company.

With 40 years of practice, Gehl has now transformed Copenhagen’s city centre into a bustling and lively pedestrian strip where shopping and entertainment go hand in hand with playfulness and environmental consciousness. Melbourne, London and now New York have also called upon the firm to help improve urban quality and re-emerge from the “car invasion”. Gehl’s methodology is unique and sharp and is anchored in statistical and sociological analysis.

Learn more through the Exhibit !

ABOUT GEHL ARCHITECTS : RESEARCH AS FOUNDATION

The work and further research of Gehl Architects is based on Jan Gehl’s four decades of extensive research carried out at The School of Architecture, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. The research is the basis of worldwide urban quality consultancy and reflects Gehl Architects’ viewpoint that working in the public realm requires a multi-disciplinary approach, as the field of work encompasses not only architecture and planning but also psychology, anthropology and sociology to truly understand how people experience and use the city.

Life - Space - Buildings

Gehl Architects believe that a good city is one where attention is paid to human scale city planning. A city should open up, invite and include people, having different activities and possibilities and thereby ensuring multiplicity and diversity. To achieve this, design solutions are based on the close relationship between people’s natural use of the public space and the physical character and form of the built environment. Their design solutions begin with formulating a vision and comprehensive programme based on the type of life - its activities and attractions - that is inherent in a given area. The next step is to develop a public space network that can support public life through scale, form and climate. Finally we envision how buildings can contribute to our aspirations for public life in terms of height, massing and scale as well as their functions and interaction with the public realm.

Jan Gehl, b.1936

Jan Gehl is an Architect and Professor of Urban Design at the School of Architecture at Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen. He is also the founding partner of Gehl Architects –Urban Quality Consultants. His research on public spaces and public life began in Copenhagen,but was quickly applied to many other cities in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. His ideas and approaches to design for public spaces incorporate the cutting edge of technology without losing sight of what best supports and enhances people’s experience of everyday life in the public realm. In 1992, he received an honorary doctors degree from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. In 1993 he won the Sir Patrick Abercrombie Prize - for exemplary contributions to Town Planning and Territorial Development from the International Union of Architects, and in 1998 he received the EDRA/Places Research Award from the Environmental Design Research Association, USA. Jan Gehl is a Honorary Fellow of RIBA, The Royal British Institute of Architects, of AIA, American Institute of Architects and RAIC, Royal Architectural Institute of Canada. Gehl’s publications include Life between Buildings, Public Spaces- Public Life, and New Urban Spaces, which have been translated into multiple languages.