Developing the cities of tomorrow through pedestrian urbanism

The future of cities is shaped not only by major plans and new buildings, but also by the everyday experience of streets, sidewalks, cafés, public spaces and neighborhood commercial corridors. For Hyesun Jeong, these seemingly ordinary places offer important clues about what makes cities livable, socially vibrant and resilient. 

Jeong, assistant professor of urban design at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP), explores these questions in her book, "Creating Sustainable Cities Through Pedestrian Urbanism," which was published by Routledge in January 2026. Drawing together years of research, fieldwork and teaching, the book examines cities around the world and considers what they can learn from one another about creating environments that support walking, social interaction and cultural life. 

The book has already received significant recognition. It was named a finalist for the Pattis Family Foundation Global Book Award and selected by Metropolis as one of 10 books worth reading this summer. 

At the center of the book is a simple but far-reaching question: What makes people want to experience a city on foot? 

That combination of quantitative research and direct observation is central to Jeong’s work. 

While studying cities, she examines foot traffic, street conditions, land uses and demographic patterns, but she also spends time observing how people actually inhabit urban spaces. Conversations with residents provide another layer, revealing how people perceive their neighborhoods and what they hope their cities might become. 

For Jeong, those experiences are essential because numbers alone cannot fully explain urban life. 

“While I use a lot of data in my research, data alone cannot capture the full complexity of urban life,” Jeong said. “You also have to experience a place firsthand, walk its streets, use its transit systems, eat local food and observe how people interact with the city to understand the social and cultural dynamics that quantitative measures may not fully reveal.” 

This mixed-method approach allows her to compare cities while remaining attentive to their cultural and spatial differences. Rather than proposing a single model for the ideal city, the book asks what lessons can travel from one place to another — and where local context matters. 

The project also developed through years of exchange with scholars and practitioners whose work overlaps with Jeong’s interests in architecture, urban design, culture and pedestrian life. Research, she said, is rarely a solitary or linear process. 

“Much of my approach to urban research took shape through the Scenes Research Network, which grew out of weekly research meetings at the University of Chicago led by my mentor, professor Terry Clark, a renowned urban sociologist,” Jeong said. “Coming from architecture, I was trained to read cities through space, form and design. Working closely with social scientists introduced me to new ways of understanding urban life through culture, behavior, data and social institutions. That intellectual exchange profoundly expanded the way I think about cities and became the foundation for the interdisciplinary research I pursue today.” 

Those questions also extend directly into Jeong’s teaching and community-engaged design work. 

In design studios and urbanism courses, she encourages students to examine many of the same issues that inform her research: how people move through cities, why some streets support active public life while others do not, and how design can contribute to more sustainable and inclusive urban environments. 

“I try to bring my research and expertise into the classroom,” Jeong said. “The way we approach these topics depends on the students and the level of the course, but the questions are relevant to everyone because they concern places we experience every day. It is very rewarding to explore those questions together with students.” 

A sidewalk, commercial corridor, waterfront or public space can become a laboratory for examining larger relationships among architecture, mobility, culture, economics and human behavior. 

Jeong also brings this approach into collaborative design workshops. Last year, she worked with the Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) Chicago office on waterfront revitalization and, separately, with the Greater Chatham Initiative on Mahalia’s Mile on Chicago’s South Side, connecting students with professional practice and community-based urban design. For Jeong, these workshops are an important extension of her research and teaching. They allow students to move between observation, analysis and design while working with real places, professional collaborators and community partners. 

Jeong’s own curiosity about cities developed through a life spent experiencing them from multiple perspectives. Born and raised in Korea, Jeong has lived and worked in multiple countries and in cities across Asia, Europe and the United States. Trained in architecture, she became increasingly interested not only in individual buildings but in the relationships among buildings, streets, public spaces and the people who use them. 

“From my observations and experiences, I’ve always wondered why some urban places work better than others,” Jeong said. “Seoul offers a strong example of transit-oriented development, where subway stations often connect directly to universities, shops, convention centers and historic places. Chicago is also a leading transit city in the U.S., but some stations are less integrated with surrounding destinations and can feel more like places to pass through quickly. That contrast shaped my interest in how transit and urban design can work together to create more vibrant pedestrian environments.” 

That question eventually led her toward pedestrian urbanism and toward an understanding of sustainability that goes beyond environmental performance alone. A sustainable city, in Jeong’s work, is also one where people can walk, encounter one another, participate in cultural life and support local economies. 

“This book brings together many of the questions I have been exploring for years, but it is also just the beginning,” Jeong said. “There is still so much to understand about how cities change and how design can contribute to making them more walkable, culturally vibrant and sustainable. That is what keeps the research exciting for me.” 

Featured image at the top of ad promoting Jeong's latest book. Photos/provided