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Why Walkability?
While most clients and communities support the concept of walkability as a matter of course, this commitment can waver in the face of countervailing pressures from entrenched interests.  Learn the most powerful economic, epidemiological, and environmental arguments for making a sustained investment in walking, biking, and transit.
The Ten Steps of Walkability
The central segment of the course will focus in great depth on the following ten strategies for making better places.
-Put Cars in Their Place: Equitable planning around the automobile;
-Mix the Uses: Strategies for getting more housing downtown.
-Get Parking Right: The wisdom of Donald Shoup.
-Let Transit Work: Creating transit riders by choice.
-Protect the Pedestrian: All the details that embody the Safe Walk.
-Welcome Bikes: Current best practices in cycle networks.
-Shape the Spaces: The role of figural space.
-Plant Trees: Monetizing the manifold benefits of street trees.
-Make Friendly and Unique Faces: Active facades and the role of architects.
-Pick Your Winners: Urban Triage as a technique for expanding success.
How to Do a Walkability Plan
The instructors have completed seven Walkability Plans for American municipalities in the past five years.  Learn how to complete such plans for your client communities.
Design Charrette
The City of Somerville has been working on the redevelopment of three neighborhoods surrounding new rail stations in the MBTA’s planned Green Line expansion.  One of these neighborhoods has had its design delayed due to utility issues, but, by July, it will be time to make new proposals.  City of Somerville planning staff, led by George Proakis, will join the class for a half-day mini-charrette brainstorming the site.
Instructors
Jeff Speck, AICP, CNU-A, LEED-AP, Hon. ASLA, Speck & Associates LLC, Washington DC. Speck is a city planner and architectural designer who, through writing, lectures, and built work, advocates internationally for smart growth and sustainable design. His new book, Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time, is now available in print, digital, and audio format.
George Proakis, AICP, is the Director of Planning for the City of Somerville, a community of 77,000 on four square miles.
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AICP/CM credits available.