Implementing Gehl’s Theory to Study Urban Space: The Case of Monotowns

The paper presents a method to operationalize Jan Gehl’s questions for public space into metrics to map Russian monotowns’ urban life in 2017. With the use of social media data, it becomes possible to scale Gehl’s approach from the survey of small urban areas to the analysis of entire cities while maintaining the human scale’s resolution. When underperforming public spaces are detected, we propose a matrix for urban design interventions using Jane Jacobs’ typologies for good city life. Furthermore, this method was deployed to improve the conditions of public spaces in Russian monotowns through a series of architectural briefs for design competitions and urban design guidelines for local administrations.