Calendar of Events
Mon 11.12.2012
Oculus Book Talk: Jeff Speck, Walkable City
AIA CES: 1.0 LU/HSW/SDWhen: 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12
Where: At The Center
Jeff Speck will present his new book Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time.
Jeff Speck has spent his career determining what makes a city work, and he has boiled it down to one essential factor: walkability. For urban life to thrive, cities must prioritize pedestrians over cars. Six-lane highways tearing through downtown must give way to welcoming buildings. Making all of this happen is relatively easy and cheap: seeing what needs to be done is the trick. Speck can show us the invisible workings underneath the city, how simple decisions have cascading effects, and how we can make the right decisions for our cities.
Cities have been recognized as the key to sustainable living. But New York, San Francisco, Chicago, D.C.—these are not the next great American cities, and they are not where the future of urban life will be formed. Most Americans live in midsize cities—Lowell, Massachusetts; Tacoma, Washington; Grand Rapids, Michigan—that need downtowns that are vibrant and appealing; they need to feel like the urban hubs that they are. They need walkability.
Bursting with sharp observations and real-world examples, giving key insight to what urban planners actually do and how cities can and do change, WALKABLE CITY lays out a practical, necessary, and eminently achievable vision of how to make our American cities work.
Jeff Speck, coauthor of the landmark bestseller SUBURBAN NATION, is a city planner who advocates for smart growth and sustainable design. As the former director of design at the National Endowment for the Arts, he oversaw the Mayors’ Institute on City Design, where he worked with dozens of American mayors on their most pressing city planning challenges. He leads a design practice based in Washington, D.C.
Price:
Free for AIA members and students with valid student ID - RSVP using the form to the right
$10 for non-members - PURCHASE A TICKET
Organized by: AIANY Oculus Committee
Oculus Book Seller: McNally Jackson Books | 52 Prince Street, New York, NY 10012 | 212.274.1160
About Oculus Book Talks:
Each month, the AIANY Oculus Committee presents a Book Talk at the Center for Architecture. Each Oculus Book Talk highlights a recent publication on architecture, design, or the built environment — presented by the author. The Book Talks are a forum for dialogue and discussion, and copies of the publications are available for sale and signing.
2012 Book Talk Series:
Monday, January 9, 2012: Grahame Shane, Urban Design Since 1945
Thursday, February 9, 2012: Charles Bloszies, Old Buildings, New Designs: Architectural Transformations
Monday, March 12, 2012: Guy Gugliotta, Freedom's Cap: The United States Capitol and the Coming of the Civil War
Wednesday, April 4, 2012: Alexandra Lange, Writing About Architecture: Mastering the Language of Buildings and Cities
Monday, April 30, 2012: Kenneth Frampton, Five North American Architects
Monday, June 11, 2012: Diana Balmori and Joel Sanders, Groundwork
Monday, July 9, 2012: John Hill, Guide to Contemporary New York City Architecture
Monday, August 13, 2012: Joshua David, High Line: The Inside Story of New York City’s Park in the Sky
Monday, September 10, 2012: Beyond Zuccotti Park: Freedom of Assembly and the Occupation of Public Space
Monday, October 15, 2012: David Adjaye, African Metropolitan Architecture
Monday, November 12, 2012: Jeff Speck, Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time
Monday, December 10, 2012: Nina Rappaport and Erica Stoller Present Ezra Stoller, Photographer
2013 Book Talk Series:
Monday, January 14, 2013: Robert Geddes, Fit: An Architect's Manifesto
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