Self-monitoring traffic

Last Wednesday, I visited Gastown while staying in Vancouver.
I noticed something very interesting. Once you get past the entrance, there are no lights and few signs (other than one-way street signs) to limit traffic flow. There are very view crosswalks.
Yet despite what would potentially be chaotic and dangerous seemed to have a poetic flow to it. The cars and pedestrians shared the street. There was no honking, and everyone seemed courteous.
I wonder what that would like like on a larger scale.