Archives
Welcome to the archives of Better Cities & Towns, a publication founded by Robert Steuteville as New Urban News in 1996. This archive holds two decades of the best news and analysis on compact, mixed-use growth and development, from 1996 to 2015.
The City of Flagstaff, Arizona, unanimously approved a traditional neighborhood development (TND) ordinance closely modeled on the SmartCode in November, 2007, according to Roger Eastman, the city’s code administrator. New thoroughfare standards...
New rules have been adopted in Montgomery County, Maryland that could steer development into areas that are already urbanizing. The rules allow planners for the first time to consider public transportation when deciding where to permit development....
Samuel Sherman Jr., cochair of the CNU XV local host committee, and a former suburban housing developer who has become a major force in Philadelphia’s development community since adopting New Urbanism as a guiding philosophy, joined the CNU Board in...
The Smart Growth Leadership Institute has released a toolkit to “help communities untangle the thicket of policies and procedures that get in the way of implementing smart growth strategies and sustainable urban development.” The tools were put...
Sustainability policies are on the rise in governmental circles, and will increasingly influence the shape of urban development.
Washington, DC, adopted green building standards in 2006, and they went into effect in March 2007. Planning Director...
By Mark L. GillemUniversity of Minnesota Press, 2007, 384 pp., $24.95 paperback.
Geoffrey Anderson, who had headed the smart-growth program of the US Environmental Protection Agency since 2000, has been chosen to lead the advocacy group Smart Growth America. He will start work Jan. 21 as Smart Growth America’s president and CEO...
Atlanta-based designer Lew Oliver, who has had a hand in many new urban developments across the US, won five gold awards and four silver awards in the annual Obie Awards of the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association. Oliver, founder and principal...
Baltimore-based Ayers Saint Gross is expected to begin work in January on SmartCode land development rules for Long Beach, Mississippi. The responsibilities of Ayers Saint Gross will include drafting subdivision requirements for the city, which had...
The Virginia Department of Transportation, which sets standards not only for state highways but also for many community streets, has historically been an impediment to new urbanist development.
An analysis of 11 Midwestern metro areas suggests that when population density is increased by 10 percent, household vehicle travel and emissions decline by 3.5 percent. “We found compactness to be associated with greater reductions in vehicle...
The US Green Building Council has launched the Educational Provider Program, which will give building professionals a course catalog of green building educational programs. The educational offerings have been peer-reviewed and approved by the...