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.
The Institute for Justice, a Washington, DC, nonprofit organization that challenges what it sees as widespread misuse of the governmental power of eminent domain, has published Public Power, Private Gain: A Five-Year, State-by-State Report Examining...
Sales are picking up at Mt Laurel in Shelby County, Alabama. The Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) has about 100 homes built and a growing town center. Sales were slow for a couple of years, but increased to five per month and have held...
Atraditional neighborhood design offering affordable housing and other amenities for Navy personnel in San Diego has won a National Award for Smart Growth Achievement from the US Environmental Protection Agency. Torti, Gallas & Partners of...
Last fall, ridership on a Metrobus route in Arlington County, Virginia, suddenly jumped 30 percent. The reason? At 22 bus stops on the route, the county installed displays of the bus schedule and a laminated drawing of the bus route overlaid on a...
There continues to be an explosion of publications and conferences about the benefits of developing densely. At the Urban Land Institute’s fall meeting, on “Building Better Communities Through Well-Planned Density, “ Michael P. Buckley, director of...
Modern-style townhouses and condominiums are now for sale in the Stapleton development in Denver. The 68-unit Syracuse Village by builder BMW Realty Partners was designed by Wolff Lyon Architects and is among the most affordable housing in Stapleton...
Clark’s Grove, an infill neighborhood in Covington, Georgia, now has 27 houses built, and live/work units are scheduled for construction in January, 2004, town planner Randy Vinson told New Urban News. The developer of the 90-acre project is Clark’s...
The Local Government Commission offers the Compact Development Compact Disc Toolkit (CD2), which provides tools for government officials, community leaders, planners, developers, and smart growth advocates. Included are a Powerpoint presentation on...
Metropolitan areas with more compact growth, a wide mix of land uses, plentiful transportation options — and which were mostly developed prior to the use of the automobile – have generally lower combined costs for housing and transportation,...
Toronto urban planner Ken Greenberg is advising the City of Boston on how to bring coherence to the 1.5-mile Rose Kennedy Greenway, which is being created where the “Big Dig” has submerged the Central Artery. Greenberg will focus not only on the...
According to a study by the US EPA, “Travel and Environmental Implications of School Siting,” students are more likely to walk or bike to their school if it’s nearby and if the environment is pedestrian-friendly. By increasing the number of students...
An eight-story building that opened over the last several months in Coral Gables, Florida, features a Publix grocery store on its ground floor and 159 apartments above. The Douglas Grand, as the building on Douglas Road is called, contains 22,000...