Opens NYC 10/18/13 : IFC FILM CENTER. Los Angeles - 11/1/13 : Laemmle s NoHo 7

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1 Opens NYC 10/18/13 : IFC FILM CENTER 323 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY Los Angeles - 11/1/13 : Laemmle s NoHo Lankershim Blvd, North Hollywood, CA NY Press Requests and Info: Harris Dew IFC Center harris.dew@ifccenter.com A KIMSTIM RELEASE US Distribution: KimStim th Street #2 Brooklyn, New York ian@kimstim.com th Street #2 Brooklyn, NY TEL ian@kimstim.com

2 CPH:DOX 2012 In Competiti Sydney International Film Festival 2013 Hot Docs 2013 Canada Seattle International Film Festival 2013 Synopsis 50% of the world s population lives in urban areas. By 2050 it will be 80%. Cities have become the primary human habitat. According to revolutionary Danish architect and urban planner Jan Gehl, if we are to make cities sustainable and livable for people we must re-imagine the very foundations of modern urban planning. Rather than examining buildings and urban structures themselves, Gehl and his team meticulously studies the in between spaces of urban life. To the places where people meet, interact, live, and behave. How do the spaces that surround us enhance or disturb our interactions with others? How can we make our streets more accessible by foot or bike? Through his world acclaimed work, Gehl has been leading a revolution in urban planning that has been transforming cities worldwide. From the expanded pedestrian spaces in New York's Union Square, to Copenhagen's famed bike lanes, to the rebuilding of earthquake devastated Christchurch New Zealand, Gehl's team bring real solutions that promise a more humanistic dimension to cities where people are not displaced by congested streets, skyscrapers, and the car-centric urbanism of the 1960s and 70s. Director Andreas Dalsgaard s film travels around the world to explore how Gehl and other like minded designers, city planners, and urban activists have begun to transform such cities as diverse as New York, Beijing, Christchurch, Melbourne and Chongqing (China).

3 ABOUT THE DIRECTOR ANDREAS MØL DALSGAARD Born in Denmark (1980), Andreas completed his film training in 2009 at the National Film School of Denmark, graduating. His debut feature, Afghan Muscles (2006), about bodybuilding in Afghanistan, was a Festival hit, winning the Best Documentary prize at the AFI Los Angeles and the Open Eyes Award at the Rome MedFilm Festival. His next project Cities on Speed Bogotá Change (2009), was selected for IDFA s Reflecting Images: Panorama and has since won numerous prizes and screened in more than 20 countries. Dalsgaard premiered his last two films The Human Scale and Traveling with Mr. T (dir. together with Simon Lereng Wilmont) at the Danish film festival cph:dox in Dalsgaard also holds a B.A. in social anthropology from Aarhus University (2005). In Lives in Copenhagen with his wife and two young sons. Directors note I am interested in people. I am interested in the way we organize ourselves in society. How we work, sleep, make love, fight or talk. I am interested in the constructions behind the way we live our lifes. What makes us happy? What makes us sad and depressed. What makes us choose to buy two cars, rather than a raft? What is our human nature, and can we improve our lives? With THE HUMAN SCALE I want to portray the way we live in cities today, and how our social nature and habits are connected to the physical habitat we live in. The human being within the built environment, so to speak. The danish architect Jan Gehl and the people inspired by him work with people rather than buildings. The space between the buildings, as they call it. This is also what tricks me as an artist. People! Architectural films usually focus on the bricks and mortar. They are beautifull and aesthetic depictions of the work of great architects. But they are also dead. I wanted this film to make the human being visible, as a creature within it s habitat. Within bricks and mortar. I wanted to create a caleidoscopic image and sound scape, where the audience can participate in a sort of meditation on modern life. The urban planners, thinkers and architects in the film make observations, ask questions about our lifestyle, and provide some possible solutions. But most of the answers are left to the audience. Who are we, how do we live, and where are we going as a species? And can we even do a damn thing about it?

4 ABOUT Jan Gehl Jan Gehl is 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. Gehl was born in In 1960 he earned his BA and MA in Architecture from the School of Architecture at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and began practicing as an architect. In 1966 he received a 5-year research grant from his former school to study the form and use of public space. This work spawned his first book, Life between Buildings. From 1971 onwards he has worked at the school as Lecturer, Senior Lecturer and Professor of Urban Design. In 1998 the new Center for Public Space Research was established at the School of Architecture with Jan Gehl as the director. Gehl s publications include Life between Buildings, Public Spaces- Public Life, and New Urban Spaces, which have been translated into multiple languages and published in various countries across Europe, North America, and Asia. These publications describe Gehl s intensive research on the social uses of public space and people s experiences and opinions about public spaces. They present a method for evaluating city quality, discuss how our sensory abilities affect our use of space, and make recommendations for how design techniques can encourage active use of outdoor space. Gehl has delivered lectures and courses at universities and conferences across Europe, North, Central and South America, Asia and Australia. In 1992, he received an honorary Doctor of Letters 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. He is on the editorial board of Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, Urban Design International, and Town Planning & Architecture. In he was hired by New York City s Department of Transportation to re-imagine New York City streets by introducing designs to improve life for pedestrians and cyclists. The DOT used Gehl s work to directly inform the implementation of their new urban planning and design policies and projects.

5 ABOUT GEHL ARCHITECTS Gehl Architects is an urban research and design consulting firm based in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in 2000 by Professor Jan Gehl and urban designer Helle Søholt as a continuation of Gehl s research on improving open urban spaces. The firm specialises in improving the quality of urban life by re-orienting city design towards the pedestrian and cyclist. Gehl Architects focus on the relationship between the built environment and people s quality of life Gehl Architects is an urban research and design consultancy. They address global trends with a people-focussed approach, utilizing empirical analysis to understand how the built environment can promote human flourishing. They apply this analysis to strategic planning and human-centred design to empower citizens, decision makers, company leaders, and organizations. The work of Gehl Architects is based on Jan Gehl s 5 decades of extensive research on life in public spaces. Their research continues to deal with the many factors that influence public life and public space and how people use it. Their interdisciplinary team of 35 people include architects, urban designers, landscape architects, graphic designers, sociologists, anthropologists and cultural theorists. Additionally, Gehl Architects employ a network of internationally recognized experts as specialist consultants. They are a young, dynamic and enthusiastic team that collectively apply 45 years of urban design research, theories and ideology into professional practice and consultancy.

6 Major Projects FEATURED IN THE FILM CHRISTCHURCH / NEW ZEALAND / 2011 RECOVERY PLAN After a series of devastating earthquakes, the citizens of Christchurch, New Zealand engaged in a comprehensive public participation process in which 106, 000 ideas were collected. Architects synthesized this input into a redevelopment plan for the Central City. CHONGQING / CHINA / 2010 Based on studies of public space and public life, Gehl Architects has developed strategies for creating a pedestrian network and recommendations for public space quality. MELBOURNE / AUSTRALIA / 1994 & 2004 From a deserted city centre to a vibrant public realm In 2011, The Economist named Melbourne the most livable city in the world. Since 1994, Jan Gehl and Gehl Architects have worked with the city of Melbourne to create a livelier, healthier, safer and more sustainable city centre. The result of an expansive upgrade of the public spaces among many other initiatives has resulted in 10 times more inhabitants in the city centre. NEW YORK CITY / USA / 2009 Gehl Architects provided key analysis and strategic advice to The City of New York for programs that reclaim space for people on numerous streets and spaces - including Broadway and Times Square. Focusing on people s behaviour and movement patterns at key nodes throughout the City, the World Class Streets report provides the framework in which the remarkable transformation taking place. COPENHAGEN / DENMARK / 2008 Our living laboratory Based in Copenhagen, Gehl Architects use the city as a living laboratory, welcoming clients, partners and researchers to share experience and insight. The City provides a set of shared vocabulary and best practice references for public space, inclusive mobility and quality of life from which we advance both our own ideas and those of others. We have collaborated with the city of Copenhagen on many levels, including strategic advice, research and design.

7 CHARACTERS Jan Gehl DANISH ARCHITECT AND URBAN DESIGN CONSULTANT Jan is an Architect MAA & FRIBA, Professor Emeritus of Urban Design at the School of Architecture in Copenhagen. Jan is a Founding Partner at Gehl Architects. He was awarded an international honorary fellowship to the Royal Institute of British Architects (Int. FRIBA) in 2006 and to the AIA, the American Institute of Architecture and the Canadian Institute of Architecture in Jiangyan Wang EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF CHINA SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTA- TION CENTER The Energy Foundation s Beijing Representative Office is a non-profit organization officially registered under China s Ministry of Civil Affairs with sponsorship from the National Development and Reform Commission. With an emphasis on both national policy and regional implementation, CSEP assists Chinese agencies, experts, and entrepreneurs in solving energy challenges. Janet Sadik-Khan COMMISSIONER OF THE NEW YORK CITY DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Janette Sadik-Khan has served as the Commissioner of the New York City Department of Transportation since her appointment by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in April of She oversees a budget of more than $2 billion, manages 4,700 skilled employees with wide-ranging expertise, from engineering to construction finance and marine navigation, and is responsible for the operation and maintenance of 6,300 miles of streets and highways, nearly 800 bridges, 1.3 million street signs, 300,000 streetlights and 12,000 signalized intersections, as well as the Staten Island Ferry, the nation s busiest commuter ferry service carrying more than 21 million passengers annually.

8 CHARACTERS Helle Søholt FOUNDING PARTNER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR OF GEHL AR- CHITECTS Helle has extensive international urban design experience with projects within the wide spectrum of the office works. Helle furthermore has teaching experience in both Urban Design Theory and Studio Work, and has been representing the office at a wide range of internationally renowned conferences as a keynote speaker. Helle has gained an MA in Architecture and Urban Design from Copenhagen, Denmark as well as an MA at the University of Washington, Seattle, USA. Rob Adams ARCHITECT AND URBAN DESIGNER Rob Adams is an architect and Urban_design urban designer, Director of City Design at the City of Melbourne, Australia. He won multiple awards as the leader of the revitalization of the Melbourne City Centre and surrounds, helping to create a vibrant city streetscape with innovative design features. Awards: The City Design Division lead by Adams has received over 100 state and national awards for design excellence since the 1980s Order of Australia (AM) in 2007 for services to urban design, town planning and architecture. Prime Minister s Environmentalist of the Year, 2008 (Australia). Sidney Luker Medal, Planning Institute of Australia NSW, Melbourne Achiever Award, Committee for Melbourne, Australian Award for Urban Design for Transforming Cities report, David Sim PARTNER AT GEHL ARCHITECTS His main area of work at Gehl Architects is master-planning and urban design, collaborating with other professionals in the planning and building process, applying Jan Gehl s theories to large-scale projects. David is also renowned as an inspiring educator and lecturer, and has taught at architecture and design schools all over the world. His work at Lund University expanding and developing teaching methods led to a number of pedagogical awards and distinctions.

9 CREDITS mins / 83 mins - Denmark - Color - English Written and Directed by Andreas M. Dalsgaard Producer: Signe Byrge Sørensen Cinematographers: Heikki Färm, F.S.C / Adam Philp, DFF / Manuel Claro, DFF René Strandbygard / Casper Høyberg, DFF Editors: Søren B. Ebbe / Nicolas Servide Staffolani Composer: Kristian Selin Eidnes Andersen References: Final Cut for Real - The Human Scale Website - The Human Scale Facebook - Gehl Architects Website - US Distribution: KimStim th Street #2 Brooklyn, New York ian@kimstim.com US distribution made possible, in part, with support from the Consulate General of Denmark

10 Also arriving from Jan Gehl on October 15, 2013 How to Study Public Life By Jan Gehl and Birgitte Svarre Island Press Hardcover PUBLICATION DATE 10/15/ pages Price: $35.00 ISBN: Press and information CONTACT: Jaime Jennings, x44/ In Gehl s newest venture, together with public-space expert Birgitte Svarre, Gehl explores the field of study that helps us better understand the life that takes place in public spaces and the components that can revitalize neighborhoods. How to Study Public Life offers a unique combination: the expertise of an architect who has shaped the design field and the real world understanding of one who executes these studies on the ground.