By Anne Levin

Between his popular TED talks and his Walkable City books, Jeff Speck is among the nation’s best known city planners and urban designers. The former director of design at the National Endowment for the Arts, Speck will set his sights on Princeton September 28 and 29 when he tours the town, delivers a lecture, signs books, and then appears at a Princeton Mercer Regional Chamber breakfast event.

“He is a nationally regarded urban planner,” said Aubrey Haines, managing partner of Princeton Property Partners and an organizer of the visit. “He over saw the Mayors’ Institute on City Design and created the Governors’ Institute on Community Design. So he went around the country and helped small cities figure out planning challenges. His focus is called Walkable City. He’s very interested in walkability.”

Speck is scheduled to walk the town with municipal leaders Tuesday afternoon, September 28, then lecture at 6:30 p.m. at the Nassau Inn. The talk is followed by a book signing.

“He’ll compose his specific talk on what he sees around town,” said Haines. “The talk is open to anyone. With visual and verbal comments, it ought to be fascinating.”

The following morning on September 29, Speck will speak at the Chamber breakfast, being held from 8-10 a.m. at The Nassau Club. The talk is titled “Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time.” Tickets are $35 for Chamber members; $45 for non-members.

Speck leads the design practice Speck and Associates. Their recent work includes downtown master plans, walkability studies, transit-oriented villages, streets, blocks, and buildings.

“The work has helped to broadly disseminate urban design best practices, while also moving the needle in terms of what sort of progressive projects can win municipal approval and get built,” according to Speck’s website.

A documentary profiling him is currently in the works. In addition to the two Walkable City books (Walkable City and its sequel Walkable City Rules: 101 Steps to Making Better Places), he wrote Suburban Nation with Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk.

His approach is holistic. “In Princeton, you have one group focused on parking, one on pedestrian accessibility, another on bike paths, and another on commerce,” said Haines. “Speck believes they are all related to each other. That’s his approach.”

Speck’s talk at the Nassau Inn is free. “Here is an opportunity for people in town to hear a person who has no axe to grind,” said Haines. “Although he is being sponsored by numerous businesses in town who are interested in the town’s success, nobody’s going to tell Jeff Speck what to say. This is somebody who has guided many towns and cities around the country. He has tons of experience and scientific evidence that back up his opinions.”