The concept of temporarily changing miles of city streets into public spaces by prohibiting car traffic may initially seem like a new idea, but it harks back to older ways of using our streets. In his book “Fighting Traffic: Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City,” Peter Norton of the University of Virginia explains that, “Until the 1920s, under the prevailing conception of the street, cars were at best uninvited guests. To many they were unruly intruders. They obstructed and endangered street uses of long–standing legitimacy.”