One of the main obstacles to change is that the transportation establishment has organized itself into a well structured, disciplined and cohesive profession, dedicated to delivering on its perceived mandate to provide Americans with a system of high speed and supposedly safe roads. The industry has managed to influence two generations of planners, politicians, developers, people in construction industries, special interest groups, and the public itself about how planning should be done to achieve these goals. There is a language and terminology, funding mechanisms, curriculum at universities, carefully articulated values and policies that have been institutionalized at a scale that has rarely been matched.

The concept for “Streets as Places” originated over 10 years ago when PPS received grants from several foundations to write about an important dilemma that was facing people in many cities - the disappearance of places in communities and the role that cars played in that disappearance. People were experiencing this in different ways but the issues were always the same. Whether they were mothers pushing strollers, parents thinking about whether it was safe for their children to walk or bicycle to school or older people who were feeling isolated because they couldn’t drive, all were experiencing difficulty crossing streets in their neighbourhoods and in their downtowns. All were concerned about issues related to the livability of their communities, including the noise and speed of traffic and their ability to get around their neighbourhoods and downtowns on foot.