I just got the message forwarded to me and I think it would likely be of interest to anyone who posts here:
The City of Saskatoon, the University of Saskatchewan Regional and Urban Planning Program, AODBT Architecture, and a number of other organizations are hosting internationally renowned speaker, architect, and urbanist Jan Gehl in a special 2-day symposium on Aug 31 and Sept 1 in Saskatoon. Jan will be giving two public evening lectures at the Frank and Ellen Remai Arts Center. Jan is a Danish visionary and proponent of the walkable and bike-able city. He is responsible for transformative urban projects in many cities, inlcuding Coppenhagen and New York City. He will be in Saskatoon talking about designing cities that are lively, attractive, safe, sustainable and healthy, and he is interested in meeting Saskatchewan's planning students and professionals.
To purchase tickets please go to:
http://www.picatic.com/ticket/event498/index.php
The student rates for the this event are very good: $7 per night or $12 for both nights. Regular prices are $12 for one night or $22 for both nights.
If you don't know who Jan Gehl is please look into his previous work. He has done some pretty remarkable things in City's across the world and it's quite amazing that he is coming to Saskatoon, so I would highly recommend you make time to attend either or both talks.
Here's the quick wikipedia description of Gehl:
Jan Gehl (born September 17, 1936) is a Danish architect and urban design consultant based in Copenhagen and whose career has focused on improving the quality of pedestrian urban life.
Gehl received a Masters of Architecture from the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen in 1960, and practiced architecture from 1960 to 1966. In 1966 he received a research grant from the institution for "studies of the form and use of public spaces," and has since been a lecturer and professor there, and a Visiting Professor in Canada, the US, Mexico, Australia, Belgium, Germany, Poland and Norway. He is a founding partner of Gehl Architects – Urban Quality Consultants.
As a "young architect working in the suburbs," Gehl married a psychologist and "had many discussions about why the human side of architecture was not more carefully looked after by the architects, landscape architects, and planners... My wife and I set out to study the borderland between sociology, psychology, architecture, and planning."
Gehl first published his influential Life Between Buildings in Danish in 1971, with the first English translation published in 1987. Gehl advocates a sensible, straightforward approach to improving urban form: systematically documenting urban spaces, making gradual incremental improvements, then documenting them again.
Gehl's book Public Spaces, Public Life describes how such incremental improvements have transformed Copenhagen from a car-dominated city to a pedestrian-oriented city over 40 years. Copenhagen's Strøget carfree zone, the longest pedestrian shopping area in the world, is primarily the result of Gehl's work. Gehl participates in and advises many urban design and public projects around the world. In 2004 he carried out an important study in to the quality of the public realm in London, commissioned by Transport for London and supported City of Wakefield and the town of Castleford in developing and delivering better public spaces, as part of an initiative known as The Castleford Project. In 2007 he was hired by the New York City Department of Transportation to re-imagine New York City streets by introducing designs to improve life for pedestrians and cyclists. He often uses the phrase 'copenhagenize' to describe his vision of how urban centres can embrace bicycle culture and urban cycling.
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