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 largest supermarket chain in the country, Kroger, used new urbanist designs by Gibbs Planning Group to gain city approval for its new 55,000 square foot “village model” store in Birmingham, Michigan. The city, which has adopted new urbanist...
In Bois-Franc, a neotraditional town under construction in the City of St. Laurent, Quebec, developer Bombardier Real Estate has come up with a unique solution for garage entry. Many of the residential blocks in the 8,000-unit project consist of...
As the New Urbanism gains in popularity, new urbanist “catchwords” are being used by more conventional developers to market their projects. One such development, described “neotraditional” in a newspaper article, consists of luxury homes on one-acre...
annual congress
An ambitious agenda includes the exploration of ways to promote and sustain an urban renaissance in the 21st Century.
This year the Congress for the New Urbanism will convene its seventh annual conference, CNU VII:...
It was good to hear the Clinton administration weigh in on the sprawl issue, unveiling a “Livability Agenda.” Vice President Al Gore outlined the proposal in early January, which includes a host of initiatives.
These include: tax credits of $700...
The Local Government Commission’s Center for Livable Communities in Sacramento, California recently published The Ahwahnee Principles for Smart Economic Development, a guidebook on economic development that presents 15 principles for integrating...
By Richard V. Francaviglia University of Iowa Press, Iowa City, Iowa, 1996. Softcover, 192 pp., $17.95 New Urbanists will enjoy this book for the clues it provides to the form, social value, and composition of main streets. Richard...
The proposed 136-unit Cityside residential development in Atlantic City will utilize Frank Lloyd Wright’s original American System-Built Homes as a design basis, making the project the first comprehensive development in the United States to use this...
Farr and Associates, a new urbanist architecture firm in Chicago, Illinois, has designed a new downtown for Swansea, Illinois called Swansea Town Center, which links the village with a MetroLink station to be built on the light-rail line connecting...
The American Institute of Architects recently created a Center for Livable Communities, which is directed by Stephanie Bothwell, a long-time new urbanist.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is looking at giving regulatory breaks to a downtown Atlanta development on the basis that the project will reduce long-term pollution compared to sprawling suburban construction. The redevelopment of the...
Town Planning Collaborative and HomeStyles Publishing and Marketing recently released the third volume in their groundbreaking TND Series, which provides plans for a variety of neotraditional building types — single family detached homes, both large...