Speck Dempsey is an internationally recognized city planning, urban design, and transportation policy firm serving municipalities, non-profits, and private developers. Recent projects include downtown master plans, walkability studies, transit-oriented developments, urban and suburban infill plans, and designs for new towns, villages, streets, blocks, and buildings. This work has helped to broadly disseminate urban design best practices while also moving the needle in terms of what sort of forward-looking projects can win public support and get built. Our firm is based in Greater Boston but works with clients across the United States and around the world.
WHO WE ARE
OUR TEAM
Speck Dempsey is a growing office of urbanists committed to creating walkable places. We are a boutique firm that provides design leadership and often builds multidisciplinary teams tailored to the unique demands of each project. We partner with a carefully curated portfolio of planning, engineering, architecture, landscape, branding, and marketing firms to conscientiously guide our clients from vision to implementation.
Jeff Speck
Partner
Jeff Speck is a city planner who advocates internationally for more walkable cities. As Director of Design at the National Endowment for the Arts, he led grantmaking in that field and presided over the Mayors' Institute on City Design. Prior to his federal appointment, Mr. Speck spent ten years as Director of Town Planning at DPZ & Co., helping to establish them as the principal firm behind the New Urbanism movement. Since 2007, he has led Speck & Associates—now Speck Dempsey—where his work has focused on making vibrant downtowns. His book Walkable City is the best selling city planning title written this century, and his TED talks have been viewed more than six million times. He lives with his wife, Alice, and sons, Milo and Roman, in a third-floor walkup overlooking the MBTA’s Green Line.
Chris Dempsey
Partner
Chris Dempsey’s career has spanned the public, private, and non-profit sectors. He served as Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, where he co-founded the MassDOT open-data program. Chris has worked as a consultant with Bain & Co., and led North American business development for Masabi, a mobile-ticketing company whose customers include the MBTA, New York MTA, Los Angeles Metrolink, and other large transit agencies. From 2017 to 2021 he led the state’s largest transportation advocacy coalition, Transportation for Massachusetts, working to advance civic conversations on sustainable transportation policy and investments. Chris has represented his hometown, Brookline, as an elected Town Meeting Member since 2012. He lives with his wife, Anna, and daughter, Sarina, and has never owned a car.
Ben Parker
Senior Associate
Ben Parker is an urban designer and architect, licensed in his home state of Texas. He has worked on projects of a wide range of types and scales including cultural, private residential, adaptive reuse, hospitality, and waterfront redevelopment. With extensive experience in China, he is fluent in Mandarin and proficient in classical Chinese. He has taught design at UT San Antonio, Wentworth, and the Harvard School of Design, where he earned a masters in urban design with distinction. He enjoys a walkable lifestyle with his wife, Qingzi, and their daughter, Cordelia.
Clara de Castro
Jacobs Fellow, 2024
Sulaya Ranjit
Jacobs Fellow, 2024
Jahnavi Kirtane
Associate Planner
WORK WITH US
OUR COLLABORATORS
Recent projects led by Speck Dempsey have included these partner firms:
Able City
Alexander Gorlin Architects
Arup
Bowman
Confluence
DPZ CO-Design
Dover, Kohl & Partners
Gehl
Halvorson
Howard Stein Hudson
Hunden Partners
James Lima Planning + Development
Kohl Pendersen Fox
Kronberg Urbanists + Architects
MKSK
Nelsen Partners Architects & Planners
Nelson\Nygaard
Nutter
OJB LAndscape Architecture
Overland Architects + Urban Design
Pentagram
Perkins & Will
Principle Group
Reed Hildebrand
Shop
Spear Design Group
Stantec
Street Plans Collaborative
Structurepoint
Studio Gang
Toole Design Group
Torti Gallas + Partners
Utile
VHB
Weitzman
Zimmerman/Volk Associates
OUR CLIENTS
Our recent clients include leading public and private entities around the world.
3MJ Realty
Village of Ada, MI
Akridge
City of Albuquerque, NM
City of Alpharetta, GA
American Architectural Foundation
The Amway Grand
Arcadia Realty Corp.
Village of Babylon, NY
Town of Barnstable, MA
City of Bethlehem, PA
Town of Billerica, MA
BioLogical Capital
City of Boston, MA
City of Brownsville Housing Authority
City of Butte, MT
City of Calgary, ALB
Canopy Development
Capital City Dev. Corp (Boise)
City of Carmel, IN
Catalyst Asset Management
City of Cedar Rapids, IA
CEOs for Cities
Champlain Hudson Power Express
City of Charleston, SC
City of Chattanooga, TN
The Chiofaro Company
City Realty
Civicap
Coastal Development
Colgate University
Conserve Southwest Utah
Continuum
City of Davenport, IA
Davis Companies
City of Des Moines, IA
Dillin LLC
Downtown Mobile Alliance
City of Elkhart, IN
County of Escambia, FL
City of Fishers, IN
Flagship Homes
City of Fort Lauderdale, FL
Fort Ord Reuse Authority
Village of Freeport, NY
City of Glens Falls NY
GP Vivienda
Grand Action (Grand Rapids)
The Grove, Austin
City of Guayaquil, Ecuador
City of Hammond, IN
City of Houston Housing Authority
i3 Interests
Indiana Economic Development Corp
Inola
Inspired by Somerset
ISC Community Development
JBG
City of Lancaster, PA
City of Laredo, TX
City of Lawton, OK
Lennar Multifamily Communities
Lionstone Investments
The Lowell Plan (MA)
City of Mansfield, TX
Mark Development
County of Maui, HI
McKinsey & Company
City of Memphis, TN
City of Mesa, AZ
MGM
Michels & Michels
Midtown Atlanta
Natural Systems Utilities
City of New Albany, IN
City of Newburyport, MA
North American Properties
City of Norwalk Redev. Agency, CT
City of Oklahoma City, OK
State of Oregon DOT
City of Orlando, FL
City of Paducah, KY
Penzance
Princeton Property Partners
Quaker Lane Services
Renaissance Real Estate Group
Revolution
The RMR Group
City of Rogers, AR
Rubenstein Partners
City of Scranton, PA
Seaside Institute
SeyferthPR
Signature Properties
Siragusa Group
Smart Growth Leadership Institute
Somerset Development
City of Somerville, MA
Strategic Property Partners
Studer Properties
Trazado
Trueform Group
Trust for Sustainable Development
Trust for Sustainable Forestry
City of Tuscaloosa, AL
City of Tulsa, OK
The University of Alabama
Urban Villages
City of Watertown, MA
weImpact Group
City of Westfield, IN
West Palm Beach DDA
City of White Salmon, WA
Wile Interests
Woodbury
City of Worcester, MA
WHO WE ARE
Speck Dempsey is an internationally recognized city planning, urban design, and transportation policy firm serving municipalities, non-profits, and private developers. Recent projects include downtown master plans, walkability studies, transit-oriented developments, urban and suburban infill plans, and designs for new towns, villages, streets, blocks, and buildings. This work has helped to broadly disseminate urban design best practices while also moving the needle in terms of what sort of forward-looking projects can win public support and get built.
Our Team
Speck Dempsey is a growing office of urbanists committed to creating walkable places. We are a boutique firm that provides design leadership and often builds multidisciplinary teams tailored to the unique demands of each project. We partner with a carefully curated portfolio of planning, engineering, architecture, landscape, branding, and marketing firms to conscientiously guide our clients from vision to implementation.
Partner
Jeff Speck
Jeff Speck is a city planner who advocates internationally for more walkable cities. As Director of Design at the National Endowment for the Arts, he led grantmaking in that field and presided over the Mayors' Institute on City Design. Prior to his federal appointment, Mr. Speck spent ten years as Director of Town Planning at DPZ & Co., helping to establish them as the principal firm behind the New Urbanism movement. Since 2007, he has led Speck & Associates—now Speck Dempsey—where his work has focused on making vibrant downtowns. His book Walkable City is the best selling city planning title written this century, and his TED talks have been viewed more than six million times. He lives with his wife, Alice, and sons, Milo and Roman, in a third-floor walkup overlooking the MBTA’s Green Line.
Partner
Chris Dempsey
Chris Dempsey’s career has spanned the public, private, and non-profit sectors. He served as Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, where he co-founded the MassDOT open-data program. Chris has worked as a consultant with Bain & Co., and led North American business development for Masabi, a mobile-ticketing company whose customers include the MBTA, New York MTA, Los Angeles Metrolink, and other large transit agencies. From 2017 to 2021 he led the state’s largest transportation advocacy coalition, Transportation for Massachusetts, working to advance civic conversations on sustainable transportation policy and investments. Chris has represented his hometown, Brookline, as an elected Town Meeting Member since 2012. He lives with his wife, Anna, and daughter, Sarina, and has never owned a car.
Senior Associate
Ben Parker
Ben Parker is an urban designer and architect, licensed in his home state of Texas. He has worked on projects of a wide range of types and scales including cultural, private residential, adaptive reuse, hospitality, and waterfront redevelopment. With extensive experience in China, he is fluent in Mandarin and proficient in classical Chinese. He has taught design at UT San Antonio, Wentworth, and the Harvard School of Design, where he earned a masters in urban design with distinction. He enjoys a walkable lifestyle with his wife, Qingzi, and their daughter, Cordelia.
Jacobs Fellow, 2024
Clara de Castro
Jacobs Fellow, 2024
Sulaya Ranjit
Associate Planner
Jahnavi Kirtane
