Toward a More Walkable New Canaan by Jeff Speck

National planning expert Jeff Speck has spent his career studying what makes cities thrive and has boiled it down to one key factor: walkability. From economists, epidemiologists, and environmentalists to preservationists, planners, and parents, all agree that walkable communities are better in just about every way. Speck explains why walking is useful, particularly regarding land-use, zoning, transit, and parking, and then focuses on how, by sharing examples of places where walking is safe, comfortable, and interesting.

Jeff Speck is an award-winning planner who co-authored Suburban Nation (Wall Street Journal calls it “the urbanist’s bible”), and wrote Walkable City, the best-selling city-planning title of the past decade, translated into eight languages. His TED talks and YouTube videos have been viewed six million+ times. Speck has been named a fellow of both the American Institute of Certified Planners and the Congress for New Urbanism. In a recent Planetizen poll, he was voted one of the ten “most influential urbanists of all time.” Mr. Speck was the 2022 recipient of the Seaside Prize, whose former awardees include Jane Jacobs and Christopher Alexander.

This program is co-sponsored by a coalition of community partners: Planet New Canaan, the New Canaan Conservation Commission, New Canaan Community Foundation, New Canaan Library, the New Canaan Garden Club, New Canaan Land Trust, the Glass House, New Canaan Beautification League, and Grace Farms.