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.
America’s newly minted Smart Growth Leadership Institute says that to make smart growth the status quo, “You have to set a framework in which it is financially better to invest in existing communities than it is ‘out there,’ adding to the sprawl...
New Urbanism’s first champion at HUD discusses his philosophy and strategy as a private-sector developer of housing in cities.
With the Bush Administration proposing to end new funding of the HOPE VI redevelopment program after the current fiscal...
While most US governors are fixated on fixing fiscal woes, a select few, like New Jersey’s James McGreevey (see March 2003 New Urban News), have managed to focus on smart growth:
Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D-Michigan). This freshman governor announced...
Avalon Associates, developer of Avalon Park in East Orlando, FL, has recently agreed to acquire a 3,000-acre business park just east of Orlando International Airport.
Currently zoned for 20 million square feet of high-tech commercial and industrial...
Habersham’s town center is beginning to take shape with the completion of its first live/work building and groundbreakings for four more units scheduled in two months. Waiting until the neighborhood just outside of Beaufort, SC, reached critical...
After six years of outstanding service, Poticha moves on.
The Board of Directors of the Congress for the New Ur-
banism announced March 5 that Shelley Poticha, the organization’s Executive Director since 1997, will be resigning as of July 1,...
At the beginning of March, CNU’s new executive committee took office. Until 2005, the organization is led by Chair John Norquist, Vice-Chair Hank Dittmar, & Treasurer Jacky Grimshaw. All three are long-time members of the CNU’s board of...
The City of Philadelphia has signed with Liberty Property Trust to revive the Philadelphia Navy Base over the next two decades, and it looks like the plan is highly influenced by the principles of New Urbanism.
Liberty first unveiled a 70-acre...
After many years of development, the SmartCode finally has arrived (see December 2002 New Urban News). The SmartCode is the culmination of years of work by leading new urbanists Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co. (DPZ), and its release has been...
A total of $494 million was awarded in what may be the second-to-last round of HOPE VI funding. New urbanists participated in the design of more than half of the 28 projects announced in March, 2003, allocated in the 2002 budget.
The program is...
Building envelope standards, general guiding principles:
1. Buildings are aligned and close to the street.
2. The street is a coherent space, with consistent building forms on both sides of the street.
3. Buildings oversee the street (and square...
Kalamazoo, MI, is the latest city looking to employ New Urbanism to reinvigorate its riverfront.
The city received a $2.8 million Clean Michigan Initiative Riverfront Redevelopment Grant from the state to renew the area.
A preliminary plan,...