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.
Dadeland Mall in the Miami suburb of Kendall is not about to be boarded up. Business is good, and the mall and its surroundings enjoy status as a “regional activity center.” But in the last 30 years, a chaotic suburban landscape of piecemeal...
The third annual Partners for Smart Growth conference was held in San Diego in mid-November, drawing more than 1,000 attendees, including two governors. The conference, organized by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and the US Environmental Protection...
New Urban News selected 15 projects for its first annual survey of sales in traditional neighborhood developments (TND)
Developers in TNDs report that sales in 1999 have risen slightly or stayed consistent compared to previous years. The 15...
Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company has announced that the following books will be published in 2000 or 2001: DPZ: A Chronology of Buildings, by Joanna Lombard and Beth Dunlop and published by Princeton Architectural Press, will cover the...
The Congress for the New Urbanism has published Transportation Tech Sheets, covering traffic calming and other new urbanist transportation issues, and Principles for Inner City Neighborhood Design, on revitalization issues. These booklets are...
Three times a year, the CNU Board of Directors gathers in quiet rooms to contemplate and decide on the direction of the organization. Though CNU’s strength comes from its members, the Board plays an important role by focusing the group’s strategies...
A neighborhood of multifamily housing designed by Torti Gallas & Partners/CHK will begin construction in early spring in Celebration’s South Village. Developed by Pritzker Residential, the 50-acre project will include 720 apartments and...
The National Building Museum has established the Vincent Scully Prize in honor of the influential teacher and critic of architecture. The annual $25,000 prize will be awarded for “exemplary practice, scholarship, or criticism in architecture,...
Institute for Traditional Architecture (ITA) is scheduled for an official kickoff in February, 2000. The event will take place in a new chapel/community hall designed by Leon Krier, at Windsor in Vero Beach, Florida. Directors of the ITA are Krier,...
Charter of the New Urbanism: Region/Neighborhood, District, and Corridor/Block, Street, and Building
By the Congress for the New Urbanism McGraw Hill, New York, 1999. Large paperback, 194 pp., $49.95. Contact: 415-495-2255. Every new urbanist should have a copy of the Charter book. Critics should have a copy, too, so that they really know...
According to the International Council of Shopping Centers, approximately 43,000 shopping centers and 1,800 enclosed malls operate in the U.S. Finding prognostications about how many of these are in trouble is not difficult. Ten years ago American...
Elements of walkable neighborhoods are marketing pluses, with the exception of higher density.
Consumers pick new urbanist (NU) community design characteristics over conventional suburban development (CSD) in most categories, according to...