There are many factors that make urban streets unique and different from rural or suburban streets. Urban streets have a larger number of pedestrians and bicyclists and are located near businesses and commercial buildings. When designing urban streets there are many technical aspects to consider including but not limited to: traffic flows, speeds and volume.

One example where urban street design and its principles were a success was in Dallas, Texas. Here, in 1999 the Urban Street Symposium was held. This symposium covered many design topics and addressed urban street issues in workshops and sessions. Some of the topics covered included: Urban Street Design: Different Perspectives, Public Involvement: Examples and Models, Layout and Functional Classification Parts A and B, Access Management, Street Speed, Intersections, Cross Sections, Pedestrians, Traffic Calming, Light Rail in an Urban Setting, Safety and Design, Capacity Analysis, and Flexible and Neo-traditional Signs. This symposium was very broad, inclusive and informative on strategies for better urban streets.

The Grid are an English electronic dance group, consisting of Richard Norris and David Ball (formerly of Soft Cell), with guest contributions from other musicians. They are best known for the hits "Swamp Thing", "Crystal Clear", "Rollercoaster", "Floatation", and "Cybernetic" (with Robert Fripp and Phil Manzanera).

The Grid formed in 1988 and had their first success with debut single, "Floatation", released on East West Records in 1990. They went on to release a string of ten UK hit singles and four albums, and toured the UK, Europe, Asia and Australia. The group's 1994 album Evolver reached #14 in the UK Albums Chart. The lead single from this album, "Swamp Thing", featuring elaborate banjo lines played by Roger Dinsdale. "Swamp Thing" proved to be a commercial success in the UK, Europe and Australia, reaching #3 in the UK and Australia and selling a total of one million copies.^{[citation needed]}

In 1996, Norris and Ball agreed to a hiatus period in order pursue individual music interests. Norris formed the Droyds, which went on to remix tracks by musicians including Armand Van Helden and Siobhan Fahey, and wrote the official biography of Paul Oakenfold (published in 2007): Ball reformed Soft Cell with Marc Almond, and also wrote music scores for films.^{[citation needed]} Norris has since formed the psychedelic duo, Beyond The Wizard's Sleeve, with DJ Erol Alkan, and has released a number of solo records and remixes under the name The Time and Space Machine.