Since Gehl’s founding, our mission has been clear: to make cities for people. From the outset, Gehl emphasized urban principles like assembling buildings, activities, and people, designing walkable streets, and diversifying urban life. These principles shaped our early work in Public Space Public Life studies, public space plans, and strategies for creating more thriving, sustainable, and healthy cities.

Already back then, the DNA of our work carried a clear climate agenda. Through low-carbon mobility plans for pedestrians and cyclists, and through the transformation and urban retrofitting of city centers, we helped cities like London, Melbourne, and Copenhagen activate their public realms while reducing enabled carbon emissions. We understood early on that the way people move through cities profoundly shapes our climate footprint. Many of the activities that people value most about urban life — close access to friends and neighbors, experiencing vibrant places, and having the freedom to move at a human scale — are inherently low-emission activities. And with thoughtful design, cities can make the sustainable choice not just possible, but irresistibly easy and enjoyable.

Enabled carbon emissions

ɛˈneɪbəld ˈkɑrbən ɪˈmɪʃənz

Carbon emissions as a result of human behavior in urban environments. The design of cities can enable individuals to make low-carbon choices such as taking public transportation, biking, and walking — reducing the overall carbon footprint of a city. Enabled carbon emissions constitute a significant portion of the carbon footprint of cities and should be considered alongside embodied emissions.

Six years later, Gehl expanded its services to include masterplanning. Our sustainability services deepened — adding densification strategies, urban infill, and complete streets for sustainable mobility.

We applied these ideas in cities across scales: from Rosengård’s social housing in Malmö to Carlsberg City in Copenhagen, and on to the bustling thoroughfares of cities like New York, Mexico City, and San Francisco.

In 2014, we took another leap by refocusing our efforts on systemic change. Through partnerships with philanthropic organizations, we established the Gehl institute in the US and developed new sustainable development services and frameworks for inclusive, healthy places.

By 2018, Gehl aligned its work with the UN Sustainable Development Goals 3, 10, 11, 13, and 17. This marked a significant shift from designing cities for people to shaping places that are healthier, more equitable, and sustainable for all.

At Gehl, we believe that the climate crisis can only be tackled systemically and across sectors. History has shown that siloed approaches do not work. Instead, humanity needs to come together to collectively adapt toward a more sustainable and resilient future. Today, Gehl’s portfolio spans cities, developers, private enterprise, philanthropy, and higher education. We operate holistically from high-level to eye-level, from policy to design, and from strategy to cultural change. By fostering cross-industry partnerships, we design places and policies grounded in systems thinking and reimagine neighborhoods across social, physical, and biological ecosystems. And through our contributions to Denmark’s latest National Architecture Policy, we’ve come full circle — returning to the values we began with: minimizing resource use, expanding biodiversity in cities, and ensuring quality public spaces for all.