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.
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...
The Metro system in greater Washington, DC, has failed to work effectively on attracting transit-oriented development (TOD) to many of the properties the system owns near its commuter rail stations, according to a recent report by a panel of experts...
The US Green Building Council has established a Web site called Build Green Schools, offering guidance on why and how to construct schools that reduce energy consumption and treat the natural environment well. The site is www.buildgreenschools.org....
Laura Hall has joined with Robert Alminana to form Hall Alminana, an urban design firm with offices in San Francisco and Santa Rosa, California. Laura Hall’s previous partner, Lois Fisher, now practices under the name Fisher Town Design in Santa...
Pioneer emphasized architecture’s role in “perpetual rebirth of cities.”��
David Lewis, the pioneering educator and founder of the firm Urban Design Associates, became the fifth recipient of CNU’s Athena Medal for lifetime achievement in a November...
“Complete Streets” movement presses a growing number of cities to plan for multimodal transportation.In 2003, bicyclists intent on obtaining safer routes for cycling concluded that they needed a slogan — one that would communicate their goal to the...
A US group devoted to traditional architecture and urbanism made its debut at the Traditional Building Show in New Orleans this October. The new organization — the American affiliate of the International Network for Traditional Building,...