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 Urban Land Institute published Great Planned Communities, a look at 26 large-scale master planned developments around the world. Although a few of the communities began construction in the 1960s and 1970s, most were designed in the last 10 years...
A 100-unit senior citizens apartment building called Franklin Arms is under construction in Norfolk, Virginia, as the first part of the HOPE VI redevelopment of the Bowling Green and Roberts Village public housing complex. The aim is to create an...
Six years ago, Safeway was defeated in its attempt to build a mixed-use retail center in Colorado called the North Boulder Village Center. The outcome was a disappointment for designer Peter Calthorpe, who looked at the plan as a potential model for...
A street grid adds a human-scale element, enhances transit access, and creates the potential for urban-style redevelopment in two recent Colorado power centers.
Two Denver area shopping centers show how large-scale retail, when subjected to...
Peter Calthorpe’s “urban network” inspired architect Kevin Klinkenberg of Kansas City, Missouri, to offer an alternative system — clearly indebted to Calthorpe’s proposal, but with assumptions drawn from current retail methods, open space planning...
Researchers in North Carolina have found that in greenfield development, New Urbanism is far better than conventional development at protecting watersheds, mitigating the impact of runoff, and restoring degraded streams.
“New Urbanism offers a...
September 28, CNU's Board of Directors decided to organize regional and student CNU chapters. The chapters will start slow, in order to work out the kinks in management, fundraising, and administration. Nascent chapters in Florida and Pennsylvania...
The Association for the New Urbanism in Pennsylvania (ANUPA), which Lancaster County planner Will Selman and Emmaus Borough Council member Joyce Marin began organizing in the summer of 2001, has established a web site: www.anupa.org. One of the site...
(Introduction to Terminated Vistas, Deflected Vistas, and Layered Vistas)
I. Urban Vistas
In the practice of urbanism, a host of techniques can help people move around easily and interestingly. One group of techniques consists of methods that...
Contrary to what preservation-minded visitors may think, the charming historic section of Charleston, South Carolina, makes up a mere six of the city’s 100 square miles. Outlying areas of Charleston have a far more suburban character, and some are...
Laurence Qamar, formerly a principal and lead designer with Lennertz Coyle & Associates, has started his own architecture and town planning consulting practice in Portland, Oregon.
Lawyers unite: A group of CNU member attorneys met at CNU X, and they are continuing their communication via e-mail. To join their e-mail list, write to cnu-attorneys-subscribe@topica.com. CNU staff will confirm your membership status and activate...