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.
California has many excellent examples of new urban infill, yet until recently has lacked examples of neighborhood-scale projects, especially in the suburbs.
Through the 1990s in the Golden State, New Urbanism has influenced the design of many...
Mark Brodeur, founding principal of Urban Design Studio, has joined RRM Design Group. He will be heading up the firm’s new San Juan Capistrano office, and will continue to specialize in downtown revitalization, design guidelines, and other re-use...
The rules that govern land development are often impediments to New Urbanism. CNU is changing the rules.
Planning and zoning codes. Land development regulations. Bureaucratese. Call it what you will, there is nowhere in the United States that is...
Fort Myers, Florida, voted to approved a downtown revitalization plan by Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co. (DPZ). The plan calls for medium sized buildings with mixed retail, offices, and housing set in a walkable main street environment. Codes to...
The Montgomery County Council recently approved the construction of a 65-foot-tall building with rental apartments over retail shops in Bethesda Row, a redevelopment in downtown Bethesda, Maryland. The mixed-use building will replace a one-story...
Empire, a village in the “little finger” of Michigan northwest of Traverse City, is growing the old-fashioned way — with an extension of its traditional grid of streets, alleys, and predominantly 50-foot-wide lots.
The Seaside Institute will expand its services to developers, and the National Town Builders Association (NTBA) will focus more on public policy issues and lobbying.
Here are some of Jacobs, Macdonald, and Rofé’s recommendations on what a multiway boulevard should have if it is to perform well for pedestrians:
• Uninterrupted median strips should separate the through lanes in the center of the boulevard from...
Liberty Harbor North, a high-density, brownfield, transit-oriented neighborhood in Jersey City, New Jersey, has been fully permitted and is near groundbreaking, according to planner Andres Duany.
Amelia Park, a new urban community on Amelia Island, Florida, was named by the National Association of Home Builders as one of the nation’s top ten communities for baby boomers.
The entry deadline for the 2003 Rudy Bruner Award for Urban Excellence has been set for December 16, 2002. This award is given biennially for urban projects that demonstrate excellence in architectural design, process, financing, and other aspects...
Dan Erdman is working at lining up tenants for a 100,000-square-foot shopping area he would like to build at Middletown Hills, the 150-acre development that his father, the late Marshall Erdman, began planning several years ago near Madison,...