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.
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...
Wal-Mart, the king of discount superstores on suburban commercial strips, has apparently discovered a new market — city dwellers. Wal-Mart recently opened a store in a mixed-use, urban location in Long Beach, California, without the usual sea of...
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...
Forest City looks to develop 12,400-acre community in Albuquerque.
Anew urban project so immense that it may take 70 years to complete is envisioned for the southeastern section of Albuquerque.
Denver’s City Council has adopted “Blueprint Denver,” a plan that aims to integrate the city’s land uses and transportation for the first time. “Blueprint Denver suggests that transportation and land-use improvements be joined at the hip, and that...