🌐 Walk This Way: Redesigning Cities with Jeff Speck

How do cities become great places to walk? What moves people to ditch their cars and use their own feet?

Paris might have an answer. Under Mayor Anne Hidalgo, the city has become a global trailblazer for the 15-minute city—a vision where everything you need, from work and schools to parks, groceries, and healthcare, is within a 15-minute walk or bike ride.

The transformation has been bold: car-free zones around schools, over 200 elementary school playgrounds "greened" and turned into parks open to the public on weekends, 746 miles of protected bike lanes, and old industrial spaces reimagined as housing.

But here’s the rub: proximity alone doesn’t guarantee people will walk.

The key is—the walk itself has to be as good as a drive.

That's according to Jeff Speck, Partner at Speck Dempsey, who wrote the book on walkability—literally. Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America One Step at a Time is the best-selling city-planning title of the 21st century.

Jeff’s “General Theory of Walkability” spells out exactly what it takes: walking needs to be useful, safe, comfortable, and interesting—all at once. He’s transformed communities across America—from Oklahoma City to Tampa Bay to Cedar Rapids—proving that towns and cities everywhere can rewrite the rules and reshape their streets.

Yet, one additional requirement must be met for cities to transform into walkability all-stars: Local leadership.

Jeff has worked in this arena, too. He spent four years at the National Endowment for the Arts as Director of Design, overseeing the Mayors' Institute on City Design (probably one of the top 100 supercool jobs of all time).

Every two months for four years, Jeff would convene eight different mayors and eight different urban designers/leaders somewhere in America for intense, two-day sprints to solve the mayors' hardest urban planning problems.

Those sessions turned Mayors into design thinkers, which made their leadership more effective and made their cities greater places to live, work, walk, and thrive.

Walkability is a critical climate solution. It's a key quality of life consideration. It's also vital to our economic prosperity; America's most walkable urban neighborhoods—amounting to just 1.2% of the landmass in the largest 35 U.S. metros—account for 20% of the U.S. GDP.

Jeff joins Supercool to break down what makes a place truly walkable, the maddening obstacles standing in the way, and how to clear the path—one thoughtful step at a time.

Take me to the podcast:

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Number of the week: 41%

That’s how much more renters are willing to pay to live in pedestrian-friendly areas with access to public transit. Homebuyers will spend 35% more. Car-independent communities are in extraordinary demand. Details are outlined in a landmark report from Smart Growth America.

Quote of the week:

“If you organize your city around cars, you end up with a car city. If you organize your city around people and places, you have a people and places city. It’s a choice we make as we design cities.”

 — Jeff Speck

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A study in Nature found that Europe is the continent with the most cities closest to the 15-minute city ideal. In mid-sized cities like Zurich, Milan, Copenhagen, and Dublin, 95% of their residents can reach essential services within 15 minutes.

Find 15-Minute Cities Around the World

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Tokyo’s Public Street Bathrooms Are Life Savers

A 2019 report found that over half of the UK population deliberately dehydrates before venturing out for fear of “having to go.” In contrast, Tokyo addresses this dire lack of public bathrooms through the Tokyo Toilet Project, making sweet relief for urban pedestrians both accessible and aesthetically pleasing.

Vision Zero Aims To Eliminate Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities

Now a global movement, Vision Zero started in Sweden in 1997 to enhance road safety for pedestrians. Calming streets by reducing car speeds is one essential strategy. Today, over 40 U.S. cities have set Vision Zero goals and are implementing policies to make their streets and neighborhoods safer, healthier, and more equitable.

Culdesac is the First Car-Free U.S. Neighborhood Built from Scratch

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City Spotlight: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Following the City of Brotherly Love’s two-time honors as USA Today’s most walkable city to visit, we delve into other aspects that make Philly more than just the setting for Rocky, the home of the Liberty Bell, and a great place to enjoy a world-class cheesesteak.

Here’s what’s Supercool about Philadephia:

1. Green Roofs

Thanks to Charlie Miller and his firm, Roofmeadow (now re-branded as Studio Sustena), Philadelphia is increasingly known for its green roof leadership. Miller has designed iconic green roofs across the U.S., including at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Chicago City Hall, and Music City Center in Nashville. Above is Cira Green, a Philadelphia gem of a park 12 stories up in the sky atop a parking garage. 

2. The Philadelphia Energy Campaign

Launched in 2016, the Philadephia Energy Authority set a target to invest $1 billion in energy efficiency and clean energy projects to create 10,000 jobs over 10 years. To date, $380 million has been invested, leading to 3,275 jobs.

3. Tree Philly

Through its Tree Philly campaign, the city’s Office of Sustainability aims to reach 30% tree canopy in every Philadelphia neighborhood. So far, 21,500 trees have been planted. We’ve covered the vast benefits of urban trees on the podcast, so it’s exciting to see Phildephia deploying trees to raise the quality of life for all residents.

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