25 years of urban transformation: what comes next for Gehl?
In this special episode of the Urbcast podcast, we sat down with Helle Søholt, CEO and founding partner of Gehl, a pioneering urban design consultancy based in Copenhagen. Marking Gehl’s 25th anniversary, Helle reflects on the firm’s journey, the evolution of urbanism, and the urgent challenges cities face today. The conversation highlighted her anticipation for the Urban Future Conference in Łódź, Poland—a global gathering of professionals pushing boundaries in sustainable and people-focused urban development.
The origins of the people-first practice
Helle Søholt co-founded Gehl in 2000 with Professor Jan Gehl. Over the past 25 years, she has led the firm with a mission rooted in a simple but powerful philosophy: cities should be designed for people. Unlike traditional architecture or urban planning firms, Gehl occupies a hybrid space— design, strategy, and community engagement to create more livable, equitable cities.
Helle emphasizes her passion for urbanism comes from its impact on everyday life. “Cities are where opportunity, inspiration, and diversity converge,” she says. “By shaping the urban environment, we can directly influence people’s quality of life.” This belief has guided Gehl’s projects across the globe, from Melbourne to New York, and continues to define its approach.
Urban Future: A platform for collaboration
Since we were recording a couple of weeks ago, Helle was enthusiastic about her participation in the Urban Future Conference in Łódź. She saw it as more than just an industry gathering— a vital platform for exploring emerging trends and understanding what the world needs from urbanists right now.
“For Gehl, having a strong core is important, but we also constantly explore the edges of our field,” she explains. “Conferences like Urban Future let us test ideas, identify new directions, and co-create possible futures with others who care deeply about cities.”
New urban challenges in a complex world
Reflecting on the evolution of urbanism over the past two decades, Helle notes that today’s challenges are significantly more complex and interconnected. “Public space is becoming the melting pot of modern challenges,”. “We need to accommodate movement and transportation, encourage social cohesion, and address climate change—all within the same physical areas.”
These overlapping needs demand new forms of collaboration. No single entity—be it government, NGO, or private sector—can tackle these issues alone. Helle calls for a “radical collaboration” across sectors and disciplines to address the scale and urgency of contemporary urban problems.
Rethinking the physical form of cities
One of the most pressing needs, according to Helle, is shifting away from a model of urban expansion and demolition toward one of transformation. “We need to stop tearing down and sprawling,” she insists. “Instead, we must focus on transforming cities from within.”
Social fragmentation is also a big challenge. Helle believes that planning at the neighborhood scale offers a way to create stronger social ties and build resilient communities. “Social cohesion and physical transformation go hand in hand,” she says.
Gehl’s eveloing role
Gehl’s identity as a hybrid firm has evolved over the years. While it began with a strong focus on public space and behavioral observation, today it integrates digital tools, analytics, and broader cultural strategies into its work. “We started out analogue—mapping, interviewing, observing. Now we combine that with data dashboards and integrate insights on everything from transportation to air pollution,” says Helle.
I was wondering if this does not lead to the overreliance on digital tools. “It’s still all about people. Data can’t replace real-world understanding and co-creation,” she answers. "You need to ask the right questions for data to be useful."
Staying human-centered across cultures
In a world where cities vary widely in political, cultural, and infrastructural conditions, how does Gehl maintain its human-scale values? Helle points to the universality of human needs. “Jan Gehl’s work was grounded in what all humans require—comfort, safety, connection,” she explains. These principles transcend culture and politics.
Still, Gehl does not impose a Copenhagen model on other cities. Instead, they emphasize local collaboration, engaging stakeholders in every project phase. “We co-create strategies that align with each place’s unique short-, medium-, and long-term realities,” she says.
Recording session
Copenhagen’s social infrastructure as a global model
While Gehl avoids exporting Copenhagen’s approach everywhere, Helle believes some elements are widely applicable. One of them is city’s sustained focus on soft—or what she now calls “social”—infrastructure: public spaces, green areas, bicycle lanes, and active ground floors.
“This attention to the social part of urban infrastructure—spaces that support connection and engagement—is not expensive, but it’s transformative,” she says. It’s a model that other cities can adapt, regardless of size or budget.
Learning from cities around the world
Although we focused a lot on Copenhagen, I asked Helle for places where she and her team are taking inspiration from. She cites Paris as a standout example, noting its rapid transformation in recent years. “They’ve added more green space, improved cycling infrastructure, and lowered pollution,” she says. The concept of the “15-minute city”—what Gehl has long referred to as the “human-scale city”—is gaining traction worldwide, and Paris exemplifies its potential.
Focus on shared spaces and social infrastructure
To conclude the conversation, Helle pointed to one crucial area cities should focus on when aiming for impactful urban transformation: the spaces we share and the broader social infrastructure of cities. She emphasized that meaningful change doesn’t always require massive budgets. Instead, by transforming existing shared spaces rather than building entirely new structures, cities can add a new layer of quality to urban life—one that fosters connection, belonging, and a sense of wholeness among residents.
This message was particularly aimed at policymakers and city leaders listening to the podcast—those looking for a concrete first step toward creating more livable cities. According to Helle, beginning with a deeper understanding of a city’s social infrastructure can help guide this change and lead to more inclusive, vibrant public life.
Ending urban sprawl – a call to shift planning mindsets
At the same time, Helle called for an end to the continued urban sprawl that has characterized European cities for decades. Even in small towns with declining populations, large-scale expansion continues through out-of-town retail parks and big-box developments—remnants of a modernist planning model. This, she argued, must stop.
She highlighted the urgent need to protect natural areas, use resources more wisely, and stop dispersing public life across vast areas. The key lies in concentration, not sprawl—bringing people and activities closer together to encourage interaction, sustainability, and urban vitality.
This shift will not be easy, she acknowledged, and requires courage from politicians to make difficult decisions—such as saying no to sprawling developments and yes to compact, connected, and human-scaled urbanism.
Be the change agents
To close, Helle encouraged everyone attending Urban Future—and all listeners more broadly—to become the change agents they want to see in the world. By embracing new collaborations, focusing on human-scaled development, and challenging outdated planning models, we can collectively work toward more sustainable, connected, and inclusive cities.
“Be the change for what you want to see in the future.”
Recommended reading:
Life Between Buildings by Jan Gehl
