In 2008, Prevention magazine named Oklahoma City the “least walkable city in America.” Mayor Mick Cornett reached out to Jeff Speck for help, and the concept of the Walkability Study was born. Seven years later, the majority of the streets in the City’s downtown core had been remade in line with that study’s recommendations.

 

Since that effort—the first “walkability study” on record—Speck Dempsey has completed similar projects for fifteen other cities and one university: Grand Rapids, MI; Memphis, TN; Davenport, IA; Bethlehem, PA; Fort Lauderdale, FL; Norwalk, CT; Boise, ID; West Palm Beach, FL; Albuquerque, NM; Lancaster, PA; Tulsa, OK; Rogers, AR; Mobile, AL; Scranton, PA; Hyannis, MA; and The University of Alabama. These efforts vary based on need, but all include detailed recommendations for the reconfiguration of streets, the development of key private and public properties, and the provision and management of transit and parking, all towards the stated goal of quickly increasing the amount of walking and biking downtown.

 

Implementation has varied, based on an each City’s political commitment to becoming more walkable and bikeable. In some cities, like Fort Lauderdale and Albuquerque, the Walkability Study has become a central document shaping City investment. In others, shifts in leadership or other factors have limited the Study’s impact to fewer locations. For this reason, Speck Dempsey now chooses its Walkability Study clients with great care, typically completing only one such effort each year.