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.
In a contentious September charrette, residents of Peterborough, New Hampshire, voiced conflicting opinions on whether a 22-acre property less than half a mile from downtown should be developed with 55 units of mixed-income housing and with new...
The latest flashpoint in national debate over the use of eminent domain is a decision by the Washington, DC, City Council authorizing seizure of the Skyland Shopping Center on Alabama Avenue in the southeast part of the city. If the city and the...
Strong population growth in and around Charlotte is stretching the ability of school districts to accommodate waves of students. “Neighborhoods in this region are growing so fast that new schools are over capacity before construction has even...
CEOs for Cities has produced a publication of some 70 pages that helps people evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of their cities. Titled “City Vitals,” it contains statistical measures intended to help leaders understand their cities’ performance...
The City of Germantown, near Memphis, Tennessee, hired the Lawrence Group of Davidson, North Carolina, to create a smart growth plan in during a charrette scheduled for September, according to an eyewitnessnews.com report.
Wide traffic lanes may make traveling more dangerous, rather than less. Eric Dumbaugh at Texas A&M, who has studied road design and the frequency of accidents, has found that making traffic lanes wider than 11 feet does not improve safety....
The movement toward eliminating excessive parking requirements scored a victory this summer when San Francisco adopted new regulations for downtown. Mayor Gavin Newsom signed an ordinance that gets rid of all minimum parking requirements for...
Developers Frank and Trey Starkey of New Port Richey, Florida, are working on a new traditional neighborhood development (TND). Having sold a large part of Longleaf, their first TND — to Crosland Inc., which will complete the final two neighborhoods...
A 19-acre mixed-use development is being proposed on Lady’s Island in Beaufort, South Carolina, across the Beaufort River from downtown. Aslan Development Group of Louisville, Kentucky, has hired LandPlan Partnership of Hilton Head to do the urban...
An article on msn.com in early August contended that consistently high gas prices will have a rising influence on house buyers’ decisions. The article, “Could Rising Gas Prices Kill the Suburbs?,” calculated that at $3/gallon gas, a 50-mile commute...
Copyright © 2006 Andres Duany, Michael Morrissey, and Patrick Pinnell. Libraries, universities, institutions, and businesses may not circulate, hire, print, use as a teaching aid, or reproduce this article and/or images without the prior written...
Fourteen states have enacted visitability legislation, and at least 24 cities have modified their building codes to make new houses accessible to disabled visitors, the American Planning Association newsletter Zoning Practice reported in an April...