The experiences of these communities emphasize the need to institutionalize the change. Therefore, the response to the highway environment and the predominant street function is incorporated in this distinction. Streets do not only serve transportation related functions. They represent a major part of the developed urban area and, therefore, they shape our cities more than any other urban feature. They are a place of commercial and social encounter.
People meet here, they discuss issues, children play in streets and vendors sell their goods.
Streets are part of the public realm and often serve social activity just as much as they serve automobile travel. Urban planners more and more embrace a perception of streets incorporating these varied functions. Therefore, functional classification should also incorporate these non-transportation functions and facilitate suitable design. As shown in Table 2, the German system recognizes the public realm function of streets. Moreover, the German guides suggest a procedure for assessing such roadway usage.