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.
CNU board treasurer Stephanie Bothwell has been selected as the second Orton Family Foundation Fellow. This relatively new fellowship program supports land-use innovation efforts in an attempt to encourage new approaches to the land use planning...
The City of Moss Point, Mississippi, adopted the SmartCode and the plan from the Mississippi Renewal Forum for the redevelopment of downtown in October, a year after the forum. The adoption allows the city to apply for funds to move the city hall...
Governing named Ventura, California, City Manager Rick Cole one of the magazine’s “public officials of the year,” saying he “has excelled in both elected and appointed roles, promoting innovative mixed-use development that reflects community values...
Berkeley-based planner says New Urbanism should focus more on jobs and regional planning.Peter Calthorpe, whose urban and regional planning work now extends from American locales such as Los Angeles, Salt Lake City, and Austin to overseas cities...
In the September issue, we reported that Dhiru Thadani of Baltimore-based Ayers Saint Gross would lead the planning for a brand-new university in Orissa, a state near the Bay of Bengal in India, and for the 40,000-population township that will be...
A master plan study that Ayers Saint Gross Architects and Planners prepared for hurricane-damaged Long Beach, Mississippi, received an award for excellence in urban design from the Baltimore Chapter of the American Institute of Architects. Dhiru...
Joe Duckworth and five partners received entitlement in September to build a new town on 3,000 acres in Morgantown, Pennsylvania, with 12,000 houses and five million square feet of commercial space. Duckworth told New Urban News that the project has...
Virginia Governor Timothy M. Keane decided in September that the state will request federal support for construction of an elevated Metro rail line through Tysons Corner rather than push for a four-mile rail tunnel through the Virginia “edge city.”...
The City of Moss Point, Mississippi, one of the coastal communities devastated by Hurricane Katrina, is moving forward with a plan that includes adoption of the SmartCode, according to press reports. Steve Renfroe, chairman of the Moss Point...
The International City/County Management Association and the Smart Growth Network have released “This is Smart Growth,” a publication that illustrates how communities can improve the quality of development. It features 40 places around the country,...
Habitat for Humanity is seeking to raise its design standards through a collaboration with the Institute for Classical Architecture & Classical America (ICA&CA). Three architects selected by ICA&CA are designing houses in Rochester, New...
Downtown Montgomery will soon have a new plaza much like those in Europe. The Alabama city was about to rebuild an intersection around the 1885-vintage Court Street fountain when Ken Groves, head of the city planning department, asked Rick Hall and...