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.
Deep pockets of developer keep town, built on the site of a former airport, moving forward.
Bombardier, the big Canadian manufacturer of trains, planes, and watercraft, has found a way to keep its 500-acre Bois-Franc development in Montreal...
As part of a strategy announced in 1998, the city of Albuquerque set out to convert its one-way downtown streets back to two-way. One pair of one-way streets reverted to two-way traffic two years ago, and four other pairs – eight streets – are now...
Tucson’s sustainable, new urban development loses its leading advocate.
After constructing narrow streets, a neighborhood center, and about 250 energy-efficient houses, the developer of Civano may be backing away from the principles of New...
Santa Fe Council tries to organize efforts toward zoning reform.
Before New Year’s Day, the SmartCode developed by Duany Plater- Zyberk & Company will make its long-awaited debut.
“We intend to start printing it before the end of the year,”...
Ken Snyder, a former official with the Department of Energy, has formed PlaceMatters.com. The nonprofit organization is set up to help communities create more livable neighborhoods through what Snyder calls “vision-centered, place-based planning.”
For years, CNU members have sought ways to customize the organization so that it can serve specific geographical areas. Up to now, CNU has not had a method for supporting chapters. Consequently, members’ mutual education and networking remained...
A Village Square composed of eight buildings is the centerpiece of Devaun Park, a 483-unit TND being constructed on 149 acres on the outskirts of Calabash, North Carolina. The Square, situated within a five-minute walk of most residents’ homes, will...
The National Town Builders Association (NTBA) has formed a new executive board consisting of Theresa Burt of the Midland Companies, Jeffrey Cagan of the Cagan Management Group, Steve Maun of Leyland Development, Robert Turner of the Habersham Land...
Architect and planner Jonathan Barnett joined Wallace, Roberts & Todd. Barnett is the second board member of the Congress for the New Urbanism to join the firm this year.
1) Mix land uses.
2) Take advantage of compact building design.
3) Create housing opportunities and choices for a range of household types, family sizes and incomes.
4) Create walkable neighborhoods.
5) Foster distinctive, attractive communities...
Albuquerque overhauled its downtown development requirements about two years ago, and the simplicity of the new system has helped set off what is, by the standards of a previously somnolent downtown, a huge building boom.
Moule & Polyzoides...
A study in metropolitan Portland provides a largely but not wholly encouraging answer to the question of whether new urban design gets suburbanites out of their cars.
Sociologist Bruce Podobnik has found that residents of the new urban...