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.
Scott Polikov of Gateway Planning Group in Austin, Texas, is joining the board of directors of the National Civic League. He was involved in producing a master plan and form-based code for transit-oriented development in the core of a 2,000-acre...
For five years public and private interests have sought to redevelop a commercial strip in New Castle County, Delaware, into a walkable village center. These efforts are bearing fruit as a 66-acre medium-density urban center called Brookview nears...
The Grand Valley Metro Council in Grand Rapids, Michigan, won the “best project” award from the Institute of Transportation Engineers Transportation Planning Council for a study that promotes form-based codes among governments in the Grand Rapids...
In downtown Cedar Key, Florida, a development will create a new block of mixed-use buildings plus the restoration of adjacent historic buildings dating to the 1860s. The $25 million project is under construction and expected to be complete in late...
The University of Miami’s Knight Fellows in Community Building will conduct a charrette in Memphis July 17-22 aimed at helping revitalize a section of the Tennessee city that historically was known as Winchester Park and currently is called Intown....
An economic impact analysis of the Curtis Park HOPE VI project in Denver by the Leland Consulting Group illustrate a success story. Among the findings:• Crime was down 17 percent (it rose 7 percent in comparable neighborhoods).
“New Urbanism is Blooming” is the theme of the Summer 2006 issue of On Common Ground, a magazine published twice
Photo caption #1: A Charter Awards certificate for the creation of new traditional residential villages at Fort Belvoir, Virginia (including the first village: Herryford Village) will be hanging in the Pentagon, said Ivan Bolden, an assistant for...
Steve Mouzon has stepped down from PlaceMakers to devote all his energy to the growth of the New Urban Guild, which focuses on architectural charrettes, “manufactured architecture,” and tools for the making of traditional towns and buildings. One...
In the mountain states, where urban neighborhoods are oases in a landscape of wide-open spaces, “traveling eight hours for a meeting is par for the course,” says Katie Selby, codeveloper of South Main in Buena Vista, CO. So she wasn’t surprised to...
Tom Borrup, a Minneapolis-based consultant in nonprofit management, community development, and philanthropy, has written The Creative Community Builder’s Handbook: How to Transform Communities Using Local Assets, Arts, and Culture. The 224-page...
Milt Rhodes has moved from Miami, Florida, to Raleigh, in his native North Carolina, where he is working part time on projects for Dover, Kohl & Partners, where he previously was employed. Rhodes, who has degrees in architecture, urban planning...