CSS is a method for planning and designing transportation facilities that builds better communities, enhances natural resources, and stresses increased community participation.

During her address to the group, Mayor Franklin stressed the importance of properly funding and designing infrastructure so that crises can be avoided in the future. Mayor Franklin is widely recognized for her efforts to repair and upgrade the aging Atlanta sewer system. Despite making tough political choices, such as raising taxes to fund the sewer improvements, voters recognized the importance of the upgrades and overwhelmingly reelected her in 2005 to a second term.

This was the second National Conference on Context Sensitive Solutions (the first was "Thinking Beyond the Pavement," held in 1998). The conference, titled "Context Sensitive Solutions in Practice: What You Need to Know," was a two-day, hands-on specialty conference for transportation professionals engaged in planning and designing roadways and other facilities. The goals of the conference were to advance the practices of Context Sensitive Solutions across the United States, provide tools for practitioners to use every day, and discuss promising ideas and future dialogue/action.

The conference was held at Georgia Tech's Global Learning Center in the award winning Technology Square district.