Streets As Places

From: PPS Projects As Public Spaces

November 10 – 11, 2011

Great Streets by Alan Jacobs

"All around the US, communities are increasingly becoming concerned about the consequences of designing streets that function exclusively for the efficiency of automobile movement versus those that serve broader economic and social needs of communities.  And this is a bigger problem than it seems on the surface.  We have built residential streets that parents are reluctant to allow their children to cross and that senior citizens feel unsafe walking  in their own neighborhoods.  We have also allowed for fast moving traffic on commercial streets to have a negative impact on shopping.  With the dramatic decrease in walking by people of all ages and parents feeling the need to drive their children everywhere, there has been a growing concern with obesity. Environmentally, increased traffic has contributed to increased concerns about energy security and global climate change. Sadly, when taken together, streets, sidewalks, transit centers and parking lots take up the majority of outdoor space in most urban and metropolitan areas. There is hardly any person in the world today who is not affected by how their community’s streets function."

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