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.
Frontage is the general term for what happens in the space
between private buildings and public streets. The frontage includes all building and landscape elements forming the pedestrian experience. As explained in the previous installment of the...
“Lessons From Katrina: What A Major Disaster Can Teach Transportation Planners” is a new paper from Todd Litman, director of the Victoria Transport Policy Institute in Victoria, British Columbia. “From a transport planning perspective, the greatest...
By Mary Lynch
The first national standards for green
neighborhoods moved one step closer to completion this fall — and one step closer to becoming a force in the blossoming green segment of the development market — with the release for public...
San Francisco’s Hayes Valley neighborhood, which has been bouncing back from years of decay (see Sept. 2005 New Urban News), was featured in the New York Times travel section Sept. 11. The newspaper reported that demolition of freeway ramps “cleared...
The Upper Rock District, which has been called the first plan to convert an existing suburban business park into a mixed-use neighborhood, has won approval from the City of Rockville, Maryland, council (see images above and on page 1). The 20-acre...
St. Louis Park, a first-ring suburb of Minneapolis, is two-thirds of the way through constructing a town center — a pedestrian-scale gathering place that the 45,000-person community has wanted for more than a decade. Where strip commercial buildings...
Routledge, 2005, 318 pp., paperback $38. If you hang around advocates of the New Urbanism for even a short time, you are bound to come across references to Jane Jacobs, Christopher Alexander, John Nolen, Benton MacKaye, Daniel Burnham, Werner...
Village Gardens, a TND in Lincoln, Nebraska, is in the groundbreaking stage and is slated to begin construction of residential units this fall. The Campbell family, which ran a nursery business on their 215-acre property for 90 years, decided to...
Jim Horne found a new hobby when he moved into Doe Mill (see photo), a TND in Chico, California. “After seeing Doe Mill, I wanted to see what else has been built using the same principles,” he says. Horne, who runs a family business manufacturing...
Portland, Oregon, is succeeding in its efforts to cut greenhouse gases — largely through public transportation and boosting pedestrian and bicycle activity, according to the New York Times. In 1993, Portland became the first local government to...
A new guide from Smart Growth America helps citizens understand elements of community design, the planning and site approval process for development projects, and how to make sure a plan or project offers benefits such as walkability, durable design...
Torti Gallas & Partners’ new Los Angeles office was scheduled to open September 1 with a staff of seven. Co-directors will be Neal Payton, AIA, in charge of conceptual design, and Charles Coleman III, RA, who will manage the office, says Laurie...