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.
New urbanists converged on the New Orleans area this fall for four more planning charrettes. One was a follow-up on an earlier charrette in St. Bernard Parish, to design a new town center. The others were part of the Unified New Orleans Plan for...
Conceived in the coastal misery of post-hurricane Mississippi, the Katrina Cottage is the house that refuses to be restricted to its native turf. On the last week of October, the latest version of this diminutive new urbanist dwelling opened a...
The most recent Technical Page outlined the idea of typology — an ordered assembly of building types — as a basis for making good urbanism. Any fully developed building type manifests three consistently characteristic aspects; its function, its...
Paul Ostergaard, a principal in Urban Design Associates, will produce a pattern book containing controls and standards for Storrs Center, a mixed-use development to be built by Leyland Alliance adjacent to the University of Connecticut’s main campus...
The plans for a new South Dakota town for sign language users designed by new urbanists have been shelved in favor of the redevelopment of an existing town. The Town of Laurent, which received national media attention and was featured on page one of...
Working families pay more for transportation than they save on affordable housing, according to Center for Housing Policy in Washington, DC. The research centered on low-to-moderate income families — with incomes between $20,000 and $50,000 — who...
Steve Mouzon has been named town architect for the South Main project, under construction near the Arkansas River in Buena Vista, Colorado. He spends two days a month there, leading design review meetings. On-site architect for design review is...
The redevelopment of “Old Town” in Wichita, Kansas, and the revival of downtown Winooski, Vermont, were among five projects across the nation that won National Awards for Smart Growth Achievement from the US Environmental Protection Agency Nov. 15...
NorthPoint project combines pedestrian-oriented features and contemporary architectural expression.A 15-year project that calls for building 2,700 housing units and 2.2 million square feet of commercial space within walking distance of two rail...
York Township, Pennsylvania, approved a traditional neighborhood development (TND) ordinance in 2005 and now the municipality has five TND projects proposed, all adjacent and connected to one another, according to Will Selman, a new urbanist planner...
The Arlington County Board in northern Virginia has approved two new projects that are expected to help revitalize the Columbia Pike by following the Pike’s three-year-old form-based code. One project is Penrose Square, which will include a Giant...
With the CNU board of directors finishing up a revised strategic plan to help it identify and accomplish critical future goals — including improving CNU’s effectiveness at the regional level and in the education of design and development...