Jeff Speck is a city planner and urban designer who, through writing, lectures, public service, and built work, advocates internationally for smart growth and sustainable design. He currently leads a private consultancy offering design and advisory services to public officials and the real estate industry. As Director of Design at the National Endowment for the Arts from 2003 through 2007, Mr. Speck presided over two NEA leadership initiatives, the Mayors’ Institute on City Design and Your Town, both of which teach design skills to community leaders nationwide. He also created and ran a new initiative, the Governors’ Institute on Community Design, which is bringing smart growth principles and techniques to state leadership. Prior to his federal appointment, Mr. Speck spent ten years as Director of Town Planning at Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co., Architects and Town Planners. DPZ is a leader in the international movement called the New Urbanism, which promotes alternatives to suburban sprawl and urban disinvestment. Mr. Speck is a contributing editor to Metropolis magazine, and serves on the Sustainability Task Force of the US. Department of Homeland Security. With Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, he is the co-author of Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream, which the Wall Street Journal calls “the urbanist’s bible.” With Andres Duany, he has written The Smart Growth Manual, just published by McGraw Hill.