Walkable USA

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.

About the Producer / Directors

Tom Desch- Producer/Director
Raised among the cornfields of Herscher, Illinois (population 1,600) Tom Desch credits his small-town upbringing on the fringe of Chicago’s influence as the inspiration for his films that look at our relationship with our environment- both the natural and the built. His films have examined how we build our cities (Walkable USA), our homes (An American Home: Frank Lloyd Wright’s B. Harley Bradley House), and unique natural areas hiding in plain sight (Shifting Sands and Everglades of the North.) His 2021 documentary collaboration with Producer Patricia Wisniewski and Michiana PBS, Then Now and Always….The St. Joseph River Story was the recipient of a Public Media Award.

Patricia Wisniewski- Producer
Pat Wisniewski, a former steelworker from Chicago’s South Side, is a three-time Emmy nominated Documentary filmmaker who has produced and directed numerous films for PBS. Her award-winning work has aired on stations from coast to coast and screened at film festivals nationwide. She produced and directed the environmental documentary Shifting Sands, which inspired the designation of America’s 61st National Park and Everglades of the North, a documentary about the demise of one of North America’s most extensive freshwater marshes. In addition, she produced the the story of an unlikely hero in the sport of drag racing, entitled The Lively One. Her current project tells the story of early 20th-century immigration through photography.