6 Months of kyu With Helle and Farah

In recent months, we find ourselves in a changed world. Can you speak to why Gehl and kyu’s work remain relevant?

Helle

We’re all acutely aware of the volatile situation playing out in Europe, the ebbing and flowing of global pandemic responses, and the imminent threats associated with the climate emergency. The phrase ‘perma-crisis’ is becoming more appropriate in describing this decade. But it comes to a point where we each have to ask ourselves what we’re doing, and what we want to do to create a positive impact in this world. For myself, and for everyone at Gehl, we share a genuine curiosity and drive to help make cities for people — cities and communities that are equitable, healthy and sustainable. It sounds idealistic but it really is about making the conscious choice to prioritise the environment and the people who occupy urban areas and spaces positively, understanding what impacts people’s everyday lives in a good way. This focus drives our work in spaces inviting for public life, inviting for active mobility, inviting for a diversity of activities, and inviting for occasions to see and connect with others.
With the changes we have experienced during the pandemic and the unstable situation now in Europe due to war in Ukraine, this shared focus on the spaces, places and the public life we share matters more than ever!

Farah

kyu’s driving force is our ability to unite some of the greatest creative thinking to address some of the world’s biggest problems. We know that more possibilities will spring forth when you bring ideas, communities, and diverse skill sets together. And that you will take better care of yourself when you look out for each other. This premise bore out in the last few years when so many of us joined hands to be a force of good during the pandemic, and continues as we express solidarity with all peoples facing war, and the traumatic human displacement this causes. In both instances, like Helle, we have also seen the value of activating at more local, concrete levels to help us make sense of our global contexts.
Another pillar of our mission, and one that works in tandem with Gehl’s, is our commitment to the Japanese concept of sei-katsu-sha, which prioritises the wholeness of a person in everything we do and make. To value people as complex individuals in order to see and understand them in their entirety.

What is kyu’s philosophy of sei-katsu-sha? In what way does it relate to the work Gehl does?

Farah

For those who are unfamiliar with sei-katsu-sha, it is the guiding philosophy of our parent company Hakuhodo DY Holdings. Sei-katsu-sha is a mindset that describes people not simply as consumers, but as real, living humans with day-to-day thoughts and feelings, emotional and intellectual needs, aspirations, concerns and worries. The concept was conceived at Hakuhodo back in 1981 by the recently departed Takashi Shoji, who understood that this practice would allow us to ‘consider what is in the best interest of a better world, and not simply profits and losses.’
So not only are we gaining a fuller perspective of the people who we are solving for, we are assessing our potential impact for a much larger stage. This micro-macro awareness and sense of responsibility are shared values within our kyu companies, many of which, like Gehl, design with a human-centred approach.

Helle

Sei-katsu-sha is a wonderful approach to humanising the values, mission and operations of the kyu companies. Gehl’s rationale in working with urban development has always been from the perspective of human beings, their senses, their needs and desires. That’s our point of departure in our people-first approach to urban design.
We study human behaviour and make people visible through data and our tools, which we have expanded and digitalised further over the past years. We design neighbourhoods that enable sociability, connectivity and access to opportunity. And we develop strategies that ensure a people-first approach to decision making.

Sei-katsu-sha and Gehl’s people-first approach also guides us in our approach to our own organisation. In Gehl we are both research and practice based and we operate as a networked organisation allowing people to co-create based on the Danish notion of freedom with responsibility. Every individual is responsible to Gehl people, as we are now responsible community members of the kyu Collective. 

Can you tell us what’s been happening on the Gehl x kyu front since the partnership was made official?

Helle

We have been collaborating with kyu members such as IDEO and SYPartners for between 3-5 years now! But since we officially strengthened our strategic partnership February 1st 2022, we have continued those relationships and expanded to new partners. We’ve been exploring project opportunities within both public, foundation and corporate sectors working together on the ‘future and retail’, ‘rethinking government hospitality’, and ‘designing national frameworks for cultural landscapes’ just to name a few. We can’t wait to release more details of these projects in the near future!
In joining kyu we have also been further inspired to accelerate and strengthen our climate action initiatives. We’re striving to lead coalitions across the network on climate targets as well as end-impact. We are also embedding our new board of directors within our decision making processes here as we now have the opportunity to learn directly from inspirational leaders such as Jakob, Farah, Tim and Jessica, as well as the network of leaders across the kyu Collective. I truly believe in sharing relationships to enhance sustainability and inspire new and better solutions.   

Farah

Our excitement has only increased exponentially. Since this partnership was made official, there was a huge release of energy in the Collective. Gehl’s unique edge of urban strategy and design, which is so relevant to the wide spread of work we do, has been a cutting edge addition.
Gehl has also brought real provocation and activation to our carbon-zero agenda led by Blaine, and as Helle mentioned, there has been much cross-pollination with kyu sibling companies. This includes a joining of forces with SYPartners and ATÖLYE in Abu Dhabi, a new territory, and we were blown away by their exhibition of digital innovation, ‘The Sound of Happiness’ at kin (our global kyu annual convening), which was an opportunity to see our teams prototyping in real-time. Further, there was a lot of interest in the kin session on ‘The Power of Collaboration,’ which Gehl co-led, participating in a candid conversation about the tensions that can arise in new situations and how to address these case by case. 

I’m proud to serve on Gehl’s board, alongside Jessica at SYP and Tim from IDEO, who have also joined. Through these exchanges and Gehl’s integration in kyu OS, we’ve really institutionalised the ability for partners to know each other, and to mobilise together to live up to the promise of kyu x Gehl.

We’re all acutely aware of the volatile situation playing out in Europe, the ebbing and flowing of global pandemic responses, and the imminent threats associated with the climate emergency. The phrase ‘perma-crisis’ is becoming more appropriate in describing this decade that’s for sure. But it comes to a point where we each have to ask ourselves what we’re doing, and what we want to do to create a positive impact in this world. For myself, and for everyone at Gehl, we share a genuine curiosity and drive to help make something positive, something that actually impacts people’s everyday lives in a good way. This plays out in spaces inviting for public life, inviting for active mobility, inviting for a diversity of activities, inviting for occasions to see and connect with others. It sounds idealistic but it really isn’t, it’s simply making the conscious choice to prioritise the environment and the people who occupy urban spaces (rather than those who only pass through).