Urban planning discussion to follow Lebanon film screening

LEBANON A special screening of a documentary about urban planning around people is being held at the Lebanon Opera House on Thursday night.

The Human Scale, a film inspired by the work of Danish architect Jan Gehl, is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

The film is to be followed by a panel of experts including landscape architect Robert White, professor of architecture at Dartmouth College Karol Kawiaka and master planner William Dennis. The panel is to be moderated by Lebanon city planning director Andrew Gast-Bray.

Gast-Bray said Tuesday, while he has been greatly influenced by the documentary's main subject, Gehl, he has never seen the documentary before and he was asked not to watch the film before the Thursday night viewing.I look forward to seeing it with fresh eyes, so I can ask fresh questions of the panelists, he said.

Over his career, Gehl has become known for challenging assumptions about modern cities and has pioneered a human-centric approach to designing communities.Gehl has and will continue to influence Lebanon city planning, Gast-Bray said, and because of that, the whole community is encouraged to come, to see the documentary and join in the conversation.

As an example of Gehl's influence on city planning, Gast-Bray said, We've designed our long range transportation plans around places not corridors or arteries.

'Life happens on foot,' is something Jan is famous for saying, which I think is brilliant in so many ways, Gast-Bray said.

The evening is expected to run from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. with an informal discussion afterward down the street at Salt Hill Pub.

'Cause not everybody likes the formal panel, standing up in front of everyone and asking a question, he said. At the pub the panel will interact on a personal scale, on a human scale.

The event is free and open to the public. The Congress for the New Urbanism, New England Chapter is sponsoring the event. A suggested $5 donation would go to support future programming similar to the event. Registration for the event can be completed at cnunewengland.org.

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Urban planning discussion to follow Lebanon film screening