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 from 2003 through 2007, he presided over the Mayors’ Institute on City Design and created the Governors’ Institute on Community Design. Prior to his federal appointment, Jeff spent ten years as Director of Town Planning at DPZ CoDesign, the principal firm behind the New Urbanism movement. From 2007 to 2023, he led Speck & Associates, a private design consultancy serving mainly American cities. With Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, Jeff is the co-author of Suburban Nation, which the Wall Street Journal calls “the urbanist’s bible.” His 2012 book Walkable City is the best-selling city planning title of this century and has been translated into eight languages. He is also the writer of The Smart Growth Manual and Walkable City Rules. Jeff Speck has been named a fellow of both the American Institute of Certified Planners and the Congress for New Urbanism. He is the 2022 recipient of the Seaside Prize, whose former awardees include Jane Jacobs and Christopher Alexander. His TED talks and YouTube videos 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.