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.
Providence, Rhode Island, architect Bill Dennis reviewed the names of more than 600 new urban developments across North America and found more repetition than he liked. He identified 10 projects with “Commons” in their name, 30 that were called “...
The book that introduced North America to this community concept is Cohousing: A Contemporary Approach to Housing Ourselves by Kathryn McCamant and Charles Durrett, available in a second edition from Ten Speed Press ($29.95). The authors tell how...
No one has won more acclaim for designing mixed-use centers in recent years than Richard Heapes. His projects include Mizner Park, Bethesda Row, Santana Row, and Blue Back Square. Heapes has exhibited a flair for creating lively collections of...
Developer Sergio Pino is proposing a 200-acre, 2,700-unit traditional neighborhood development (TND) in Doral, Miami-Dade County, Florida. Grand Bay includes shops, two schools, parks, and a church. The Miami-Dade County Commission voted to change...
See the Charter Awards presented in a lunchtime ceremony at CNU XIII in Pasadena on Friday, June 10, 2005. The awards ceremony is one of the high points of the year in New Urbanism – with jurors and winning project teams sharing the stage to...
Andrew Nash has developed a website called the International City Planners Network, to facilitate exchanges of urban planning ideas among multidisciplinary design and planning professionals. Nash says the Network, a nonprofit organization based in...
Also in Atlanta, a 28-acre infill new urban project called Glenwood Park announced that its first retail tenants — a coffeehouse and a Latin restaurant — are scheduled to open June 1. When completed, Glenwood Park will comprise 325-360 residences,...
By James Howard Kunstler Atlantic Monthly Press, 2005, 307 pp., hardcover $23. Humpty Dumpty sits on a wall, parties, and has a great time. He’s completely oblivious to warnings of danger, and leaning too far back. We all know what happens next...
After lagging behind much of the nation for a dozen years, New England is finally starting to show strong interest in traditional neighborhood developments (TNDs), town centers, new urban brownfield developments, and transit-oriented communities....
Urbanists are directing the planning process for a 12,000-acre addition to the Portland urban growth boundary (UGB). Otak, a Portland-based planning and urban design firm, is leading the project, and the design team included new urbanists Laurence...
Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co. (DPZ) was tapped to create a plan for a 148-acre former State Hospital campus, a major undeveloped site in downtown Columbia, South Carolina. The Central Carolina Community Foundation was selected by Gov. Mark Sanford...
The City of Macon, Georgia, has received federal transportation funds to redevelop the historic Macon Terminal Station as an intermodal facility combining commuter rail, shuttle, and local and regional bus service. The 1916 station, designed by New...