Design guide for people-centred places
Happy Cities and Mobycon are releasing a new design guide for streets and buildings in people-centred places, coming summer 2026! The guide outlines practical design actions for cities to better meet the needs of all road users, while improving street-level vibrancy, economic growth, and safety.
Aerial view of an intersection in Tysons, Virginia in 2012, next to an elevated rail line that connects to downtown Washington D.C. (Google Maps)
In 2010, Fairfax County, Virginia, approved a plan that aimed to create compact, pedestrian-friendly development near transit stations. The plan committed $2.9 billion for an elevated train to downtown Washington D.C. But it also set aside $1 billion for roads, which included widening roads directly next to the new transit stations. The intersection at one station grew from eight lanes to 11.
Cities across North America are stuck in a billion-dollar contradiction.
Across North America, cities make major investments in transit and walkability, but undermine these investments with highway-style roads.
Wide roads, slip lanes, and large parking lots—these are standard road design practices across most North American cities. They make sense for places where people need to drive to get around, like industrial parks. But in people-centred places, like a downtown or next to a new transit station, they stifle growth, rather than support it. In these places, wide, fast roads deaden street life, dissuade investment, and sap communities of vitality.
Cities need distinct design strategies to manage car traffic in people-centred places.
This contradiction isn’t the fault of individual planners or municipalities. It’s built into the systems that shape road design, and by consequence, cities.
Like Fairfax County, many local governments want to create great, walkable places. But their efforts are stifled because default design standards prioritize cars and highway-style roads.
We believe there’s another way.
Introducing: A new street design guide for cars in people-centred areas.
Happy Cities and Mobycon are releasing a guide that will offer a new set of design practices to meet the needs of cars—while creating safe, comfortable, inviting streets for pedestrians, bikes, and other active road users.
The guide integrates the Happy Cities approach to community planning and building design with Mobycon’s Dutch-inspired, human-centred mobility expertise.
It will provide practical guidance on:
The difference between car-centred and people-centred places
How to design buildings and streets in people-centred places
Practical actions governments can take to implement walkable, people-centred design at scale
Fill out the form below to be the first to receive the guide when it launches in summer 2026!
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