Walkable USA Public Screening

Event Details

Join the Center for Independent Documentary, House Painter Media and Lakeshore Public Media for a public screening of Walkable USA, a documentary about the efforts to reinvigorate historic downtown Hammond, Indiana, through walkable urban design and historic preservation. The film’s creators will be on hand for a post-screening discussion.

Click on the RSVP button above to register.

Note that the program begins at 6 p.m. Central Daylight Time.

For more information, contact House Painter Media at tom@housepaintermedia.com.

About the Film

In the late 20th and early 21st century, downtown Hammond, Indiana, once a thriving commercial and civic center, was all but abandoned. Fast forward to the 2020s, and the community sees a path forward to revitalize an area that was once a point of civic pride. To do so, they’ve enlisted the help of city planner and urban designer Jeff Speck. Speck, along with his mentors Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, is considered one of the leading voices of New Urbanism, a movement which promotes alternatives to suburban sprawl and urban disinvestment.

Central to Speck’s design philosophy is the power of people walking. His work aims to shift the design and scale of cities from the car to the individual. These changes result in safer streets, and in older “legacy” communities they can help reinvigorate neighborhoods where many could not imagine such transformations taking place. Walkable USA explores the impact of city planning on our society, and the film uses Hammond as an in-progress case study of a possible solution to years of car-centric design.

To preview the film, watch this clip. To learn more about Speck, his work and his design philosophy, listen to this interview that he recently conducted with National Public Radio’s TED Radio Hour.

This program received support from an Indiana Humanities Action Grant and from a Historic Preservation Education Grant offerd through Indiana Landmarks and Indiana Humanities.