The Planner's Pledge (An Oath to Reform a Wayward Profession)

A manifesto and guidebook for refocusing planners on the task of building a more livable world.

From the bestselling author of Walkable City and a prominent urban planning educator.

“Cities are the future of the human race,” remarked New Yorker writer David Owen, “and Jeff Speck knows how to make them work.” With the renowned planning professor Emily Talen, Speck brings that knowledge to bear in The Planner’s Pledge—a manifesto and practical handbook that redirects city planning toward healthier, fairer, and more sustainable outcomes.

The growing call for walkable mixed-use communities is drowned out by the seemingly ceaseless construction of car-dependent single-use sprawl. The Planner’s Pledge aims to cut through the static and jumpstart the planning profession’s commitment to building more livable cities and a more workable world.

Speck and Talen organize their Pledge around 56 clear statements—each supported by evidence and examples—that form a coherent and practical framework for contemporary planning. The result is a compact, highly usable guide that connects big-picture goals—public health, equity, climate resilience, economic vitality, and social life—to everyday decisions about zoning, streets, housing, parking, transit, and historic buildings.

At once a critique, a teaching tool, and a call to action, The Planner’s Pledge gives practitioners, students, and engaged citizens a shared vocabulary and a set of priorities for creating walkable, mixed-use, transit-supportive, and socially diverse communities. Pairing moral clarity with practical guidance, the book equips the planning profession with the tools it needs to recover its public purpose and reclaim a leadership role in shaping better places.