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.
Leading new urbanist traffic engineers Rick Chellman, Rick Hall, and Peter Swift are collaborating on what could be a groundbreaking manual on urban streets. The manual will provide a theoretical basis for new street types and standards in the urban...
Civitas and Leyland Development, both new urbanist developers, are moving forward with a 200-acre extension of downtown North Augusta, South Carolina. Dover Kohl & Partners was hired to do the planning. The project will connect the downtown to...
Charleston, South Carolina, mayor Joe Riley is promoting a project that would create private, secure, communal green spaces at the center of city blocks. The initiative, Community Greens: Shared Parks in Urban Blocks, is a partnership between the...
Planners under California Gov. Gray Davis have introduced a bill — SB1521 — designed to promote mixed-use, walkable neighborhoods, infill development, and transit connections. The bill would showcase best planning practices — i.e., “smart growth”...
New urban development must make case at state high court.
I’On, a lauded traditional neighborhood development (TND) in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, faces continued opposition from town officials.
The latest hurdle for the 243-acre, 759-unit...
Are you ready for a massive increase in suburban sprawl in the next two decades? That’s what were headed for, according to the Pew Oceans Commission report. The study projects show that developed land in the US will rise by 50 to 80 million acres,...
As the New Urbanism rises to the challenge of creating urban places from a suburban mold, two mall conversions and a development — each in different corners of the US — suggest ways to begin.
Parking lots, one-story retail boxes, high-speed...
Jennifer Hurley, a Philadelphia planner who recently concluded her fellowship at the Knight Program for Community Building at the University of Miami, has launched Hurley-Franks & Associates with architect and planner Philip E. Franks. The firm...
The Chesapeake & Potomac Regional Alliance has prepared the report “Smart Growth Proposal,” which provides tools for identifying projects that are consistent with smart growth principles. The report includes a project evaluation chart that...
CNU is proud to announce a new benefit of membership. All members will now receive reports from the periodic Charter Councils as well as the Kentlands, Maryland-based Town Paper. Members had been receiving these publications on an ad-hoc basis, but...
A plan for 60 square miles around Research Triangle Park (RTP) in North Carolina calls for mixed-use, transit-oriented towns and neighborhoods “resembling downtown Chapel Hill,” according to a report in the Raleigh News & Observer. RTP has 90,...
The City of Lenexa, Kansas, plans to acquire a $9-million parcel in the near future to develop a 62-acre downtown with 1,700 residential units, 1 million square feet of office, and 300,000 square feet of stores and restaurants. The Haile Group,...