My guest today is Jeff Speck. Jeff is the author of Walkable City and Walkable City Rules. As an urban planner and city designer he specializes in, and advocates for, human modes of transportation: first and foremost walking, but also biking.
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Using years of research and action, Jeff shows how cities become better places when we move away from an automobile-focused life. As I spend a lot of my time walking through cities whenever I get a chance, preferring to travel on foot when possible, I knew there were some places that felt safer as a pedestrian and were generally more enjoyable to walk through. Jeff lays out exactly why that is, and what each of us can do to advocate for these changes in our local towns and cities. In the process we can limit gentrification, which Jeff expands on during the interview, making cities even friendlier to people and more sustainable for generations to come.
You can find Jeff and his book at JeffSpeck.com. In addition to his website, I’ve included copious links in the resources section below for you to learn more about what we talked about in this interview.
Since recording this conversation, I’ve gone on to read Jeff’s Walkable City Rules, which lays out in even more actionable detail what we can do to show up at planning meetings and be a force for change while preserving mainstreet and reducing the impacts of climate change.
As permaculture practitioners, our roles in cities and towns change towards an even more human focus to minimize the impacts of this increased living density on the surrounding environment and designing for living in place. For those of us who live in cities, and I’ll be doing so in just a few weeks as I relocate to Falls Church, Virginia, there’s a huge intersection between city planning, including the parks and rec departments, for us to get involved and take direct action through advocacy. We can argue for why we need to reduce speed limits, increase street trees, and expand green spaces.
Image the more beautiful, verdant world we could have.
But, that’s just my thoughts on leaving this interview with Jeff Speck. What are yours? Leave a comment in the show notes or get in touch by sending me an email: The Permaculture Podcast
Until the next time, spend each day advocating for the place you live while taking care of Earth, yourself, and each other.
Related Interview
Resources
Books
Walkable City - Jeff Speck
Walkable City Rules - Jeff Speck
Suburban Nation - Andres Duany, Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, and Jeff Speck
The Barefoot Architect - Johan van Lengen
The Color of Law - Richard Rothstein
The New Jim Crow - Michelle Alexander
Policing the Open Road - Sarah E. Seo
The Death and Life of Great American Cities - Jane Jacobs
Garden Cities: Theory and Practice of Agrarian Urbanism - Andres Duany
People and Organizations
DPZ CoDesign - Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk
Human Transit - Jarrett Walker
Jan Gehl - Making Cities for People
Related Ideas
Community Land Trust (Wiki)
A Pattern Language (Wiki)
Seaside - Resort Community designed by Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk