Rethinking Streets: New Report Illustrates Complete Streets Projects

"Rethinking Streets," a new report by the University of Oregon's Sustainable Cities Initiative, provides detailed information on 25 complete streets and streetscaping projects. It is available free in PDF and hard copy format.

1 minute read

April 30, 2014, 6:00 AM PDT

By Todd Litman


Stockholm Complete Street

EURIST e.V. / Flickr

It’s time to rethink the street.

For too long we’ve been building streets as though they have one function–to move cars quickly. The reality is that streets can to do more than just move cars. They can move people on foot, on bikes, on transit, without hurting vehicular throughput and safety. They can be more than a way to get somewhere else. Good streets are good places, too – public places where people meet, sit and socialize, conduct business, wander about, play, and more.

This new book uses evidence from completed street projects from around the United States in order to help communities imagine alternative futures for their streets. The book does not show hypothetical street re-designs, but actual examples from typical communities to show how they did what they did and see what resulted from the change.

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