From the Preface to the new Second Edition of Street Design, The Secret to Great Cities and Towns (Wiley 2014 and 2016):

Once we leave our house or apartment building, the first thing we see is the street. How we feel about the street, where the street takes us, and if we like the place it takes us, all contribute to how we feel about ourselves and our place in the world.

It’s common on social media and in public planning meetings to hear someone exclaim that street design and urban design are “just aesthetics.” We could not disagree more. If you want to see what a culture values, look at what it builds. In the last one hundred years, we have substituted bleak transportation corridors for civic space, where public life takes place. That is a societal mistake we discuss at the beginning of Chapter One.

We know that a young child’s learning about the world outside their home is directly affected by how they move from the home onto the street. What is the character of that street? Are they allowed to venture on their own more than a few feet from the front door? Are they encouraged to explore the neighborhood on their own, or do they experience going into the world from the back seat of a car driven by a parent? Studies show these differences affect their feelings of independence and self-confidence.

The place where we live is a reflection of our self.5 Imagine looking back at your home from the street, as though you are looking at yourself in the mirror. Do you like what you see? Does it make you confident, or do you feel that others have better places to live? Does your home look like your neighbors, or does it look like a “project,” a place for people who couldn’t afford something better?

New Urban designer Ray Gindroz’s long career redesigning housing projects and working in poor neighborhoods gave him data that showed children had more self-confidence, better grades in school, and happier lives.6 The street, the neighborhood, and the city or town where we live are also reflections of ourselves, fundamental to our self-image and how we fit into the world. They can welcome us or isolate us.7