as part of an initiative known as "The Castleford Project". In 2007–08 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. Gehl has been influential in Australia and New Zealand as well, where he prepared Public Life studies for the city centres of Melbourne (1994 and 2004), Perth (1995 and 2009), Adelaide (2002) Sydney (2007), Auckland (2008), Wellington (2004), Christchurch, Launceston and Hobart (2010) Gehl credits the "grandmother of humanistic planning" Jane Jacobs for drawing his attention to the importance of human scale. “Fifty years ago she said – go out there and see what works and what doesn’t work, and learn from reality. Look out of your windows, spend time in the streets and squares and see how people actually use spaces, learn from that, and use it.” Awards and distinctions 1992 Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University 1993 Sir Patrick Abercrombie Prize – for exemplary contributions to Town Planning and Territorial Development, International Union of Architects 1998 EDRA Award, Environmental Design Research Association, USA 2007 Honorary Academician, The Academy of Urbanism, UK 2008 Landscape Institute Award, Landscape Institute, UK 2008 Honorary Fellow of American Institute of Architects 2009 NYC Award, New York City, USA 2009 Civic Trust Award for Brighton New Road Civic Trust, UK 2011 Prince Eugen Medal for outstanding artistic achievement in architecture, Denmark 2013 C.F. Hansen Medal Design Futures Council Senior Fellow 2015 Global Award for Sustainable Architecture 2018 Athena Medal, Congress for the New Urbanism Selected publications Gehl, J (1987) Life Between Buildings: Using Public Space, translated by Jo Koch, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York. () Gehl, J. and Gemzøe, L. (2000) New City Spaces, The Danish Architectural Press. Copenhagen. () Gehl, J. and Gemzøe, L. (2004) Public Spaces, Public Life, Danish Architectural Press. () Gehl, J. et al. (2006) New City Life, The Danish Architectural Press, Denmark. () Gehl, J. (2010) Cities for People, Island Press. () Gehl, J. and Svarre, B. (2013) How to Study Public Life, Island Press See also Public space New Urbanism Transit-oriented development References External links Gehl Architects, Copenhagen Complete text of "Life Between Buildings" Chapter 1 in English The Castleford Project, an innovative urban revitalization program in Yorkshire, UK Metropolis Magazine