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.
Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell signed a law in December that encourages development around bus and rail stations. The law authorizes establishment of Transit Revitalization Investment Districts (TRIDs) — partnerships between local governments,...
Of all the ways of developing land that prevail today in America, the housing pod is probably the most pervasive. The unintended consequence of a post-World War II policy of mass housing production on “efficient” cleared sites is this: the American...
Thirteen houses in Beall’s Hill in Macon, Georgia, have received facelifts to show developers what the neighborhood, which has an ambitious new urban redevelopment plan, can become. About $600,000 has been allocated for public improvements in the...
Kennecott Land’s Daybreak, in South Jordan, Utah, is off to a strong start. More than 200 houses were sold in its first six months, Kort Utley of Kennecott Land told New Urban News. The 4,200-acre project, planned by Calthorpe Associates, opened in...
Can Hagerstown and other cities just beyond the sprawl of the Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area be strengthened through renovation of their centers and by compact new development? That’s the question that drives Alan Feinberg and Nick Pittas....
James Urban, principal of Urban Trees & Soils in Annapolis, has compiled 10 strategies, of three different kinds, for successful development of trees in cities.
Due to a disagreement over equity financing levels, the City of Lenexa, Kansas, broke off its three-year partnership with the Haile Group, a new urbanist developer based in Gainesville, Florida. The Haile Group drew up plans for, and was planning to...
An organization called “The Students for the New Urbanism at the University of Miami” (SNU Miami) has been formed, with Juan Muller [should be “Mullerat”] as president. The group expects to produce a publication that will be distributed in January...
The Atlanta Regional Commission has allocated $252 million of mainly federal funds toward establishment of a transit line and a linear park on existing railroad rights-of-way that ring Atlanta’s downtown, Midtown, and intown neighborhoods. The...
Leaders in San Jose, California, have begun what could be a momentous overhaul of development policies governing more than a third of the land in the 926,000-population city. The city’s plans could add 70,000 units of housing and increase the city’s...
Two CNU Task Forces have new co-chairs. Lucy Rowland will co-chair the Educators Task Force, and Kevin Hardman will co-chair the Downtown/Infill Task Force. Head of science collections and research facilities at the University of Georgia Libraries,...
A Leon Krier tower, depicted below, is planned to stand at the center of Seaside, Florida. Significant parts of the town center are being redesigned by architect Daniel Parolek of Opticos Design. Look for an article in the March issue of New Urban...