Jeff Speck, one of the nation’s leading experts on walkabity and transit oriented development spoke at a recent Newton-Needham Chamber event, sharing his perspective with some examples from Newton and Needham. This is the audio and slide show from his presentation. There is also a video featuring Speck’s vision for Washington Street which will be available next week.
VIDEO: Jeff Speck on walkability
by Greg Reibman | Sep 22, 2017 | Newton | 7 comments
What a great talk.
I’ll be interested to see how the “fundamental law of traffic congestion” plays out with the Rt 128 Add-a-Lane project.
I’m going to posit my own conjecture: Reilly’s Conservation of Bottlenecks Theorem – “when you build more road to relieve a bottleneck in traffic flow, you merely move the bottleneck down the road to a new spot”.
Look no further than Route 9, Chestnut Hill.
Thank you Greg for posting Jeff Speck’s presentation. I wanted to attend but wasn’t able to. It seems so simple to understand what needs to be done the way he breaks it down from the history of creating suburbs and building roads that used zoning to separate uses to the need now to consolidate uses closer together. At least it’s an easier fix here than in other places I have lived.
I found most interesting the four things that must all be accomplished in order for those of us who can to choose to walk where we are going. A reason to walk, a safe walk, a comfortable walk, and an interesting walk. Leave one out and few walk.
It occurred to me while watching that we have been moving away from one important step in creating a walkable city – from walkable neighborhood schools to large schools.
I’m looking forward to the posting of his take on Washington Street.
Wonderful presentation. And yes, Marti, Newton’s current strategy of building a cluster of large elementary schools in the center of the city seems counter to the political talk — so common these days — about walkable neighborhoods. At 17:48 in the talk, Speck mentions the problem of “schools super-sized around the assumption of everyone driving there.” Not everyone will drive, of course, but buses have a cost, too. We’re promoting the upcoming national Walk-to-School week (Oct. 2-6), yet the first step in getting kids to walk to school is locating schools where they can walk.
Closing of village schools that most kids could walk to in favor of giant schools that many kids must be bused to (at perpetual cost to taxpayers) or driven to by parents was definitely one of the worst mistakes of public policy in the city in the last thirty years. Most of these mistakes can’t be undone now, but officials and citizens should make sure that opportunities to reduce traffic in the future are not ignored.
I will watch the video at a convenient time, but it would have been so much more convenient for political junkies not to have Mr. Speck in town on an election day. (His book “The Walkable City” is a good read though and another means to become familiar with his thoughts.
Brian and I can both remember how great it was to walk to school in past decades. One of the joys of growing up here in the late 40’s and early to mid 50’s was just being able to roll out the door and walk first to Hyde School and then to Weeks Junior High. Then we either walked or rode our Raleigh 3 speeds to the old (three building) Newton High School when it wasn’t raining, icy or snowing. I remember tying a portable radio in the front basket and being introduced to classical music on WCRB which had just come on the air. I’ve been hooked ever since. I remember one fall morning when we were racing on the aqueduct past the old Cold Springs park with Felix Mendelsohn’s 4th (Italian) Symphony blaring from the speakers. I think of that anytime I hear the Italian Symphony played. Great stuff and great to be alive.