"If you plan cities for cars and traffic, you get cars and traffic. If you plan for people and places, you get people and places."

The power of this simple idea is that it reflects basic truths that are rarely acknowledged. One such truth is that more traffic and road capacity are not the inevitable result of growth. They are in fact the product of very deliberate choices that have been made to shape our communities around the private automobile. We have the ability to make different choices--starting with the decision to design our streets as comfortable places for people.

There is a new movement to look at transportation in the broader context of communities. Thankfully, over the past ten years, a growing number of people around the world have stood up and demanded something better. PPS is helping to show the way forward, assisting communities realize a different vision of what transportation can be.

Downtown streets can become destinations worth visiting, not just thruways to and from the workplace. Transit stops and stations can make commuting by rail or bus a pleasure. Neighborhood streets can be places where parents feel safe letting their children play, and commercial strips can be designed as grand boulevards, safe for walking and cycling and allowing for both through and local traffic.

We are poised to create a future where priority is given to the appropriate mode, whether pedestrian, bicycle, bus, train or automobile. To be sure, cars have their place, but the rediscovered importance of walking, biking and taking transit will bring more people out onto the streets—allowing these spaces to serve as public forums where neighbors and friends can connect with one another.

In order for our streets and transit stations to fulfill the critical "town square" function that is missing in most communities today, they need to be planned and designed appropriately using the following guidelines.

Rule One: Stop Planning for Speed

Streets need to be designed in a way that induces traffic speeds appropriate for that particular context. Whereas freeways should remain high-speed to accommodate regional mobility, speeds on other roads need to reflect that these are places for people, not just conduits for cars. Desired speeds can be attained with a number of design tools, including changes in roadway widths, curvature, and intersection design. Roadside strategies, like building setbacks and sidewalk activity, can also impact the speed at which motorist comfortably drive.

Speed kills sense of place. Cities and town centers are destinations, not raceways, and commerce needs traffic—foot traffic. You can not buy a dress from a car. Even foot traffic speeds up in the presence of fast-moving vehicles. Access, not automobiles, should be the priority in city centers. Don't ban cars, but remove the presumption in their favor. People first!

Rule Two: Start Planning for Public Outcomes

Great transportation facilities, such as Grand Central Terminal in New York City and the wide sidewalks of the Champs Elysées, were transportation "improvements" that have truly improved the public realm. Designing road projects to fit community contexts can help increase developable land, create open space, and reconnect communities to their neighbors, a waterfront, or park. They can reduce household dependency on the automobile, allowing children to walk to school, connecting commercial districts to downtowns, and helping build healthier lifestyles by increasing the potential to walk or cycle. Think public benefit, not just private convenience.

For years we've seen this philosophy gain traction in leading cities around the world. Barcelona has built boulevards and Ramblas that give pedestrians priority over the auto. Paris has developed a neighborhood traffic calming program to rival that of any city anywhere. London charges congestion fees for vehicles entering the city center, successfully reducing traffic levels and funding an aggressive program to improve transit. Bogotá now boasts a world-class bus rapid transit system and has established a mandate to eliminate private auto use during the morning rush hour by 2015. These projects provide evidence that wecan redesign our transportation networks to reflect their true importance as public spaces and supporters of our vision for our towns and cities.

The road, the parking lot, the transit terminal—these places can serve more than one mode (cars) and more than one purpose (movement). Sidewalks are the urban arterials of cities—make them wide, well lit, stylish and accommodating with benches, outdoor cafes and public art. Roads can be shared spaces with pedestrian refuges, bike lanes, and on-street parking. Parking lots can become public markets on weekends. Even major urban arterials can be designed to provide for dedicated bus lanes, well-designed bus stops that serve as gathering places, and multi-modal facilities for bus rapid transit or other forms of travel. Roads are places too!

Transportation—the process of going to a place—can be wonderful if we rethink the idea of transportation itself. If we remember that transportation is the journey, but enhancing the community is always our goal.