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.
American Urban Typologies: Key West, Florida, by Miami architect Erick Valle, explains and dissects the building and street designs of one of America’s best-loved towns. The book is well-researched and beautifully illustrated. Contact: Correa Valle...
Work by John Holtzclaw, as reported in the July/August 1997 issue of New Urban News, demonstrated that vehicle miles traveled per household drops drastically in high-density urban areas. That work has become the basis for the location-efficient...
A real estate market poll sponsored by the Los Angeles Times shows a surprising level of preference for the types of amentities offered by new urbanist projects.
Rosemary Beach, a 105-acre traditional neighborhood development (TND) in Walton County, Florida, continues to rack up impressive sales. Out of 195 lots available so far, 145 have been sold. Lot sale prices have ranged from $70,000 to more than a...
The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Community Centers, Beauty Parlors, General Stores, Bars, Hangouts and How They Get You Through the Day By Ray Oldenburg Marlowe & Company, New York, 1989, 1997 Second Edition. Softcover, 296 pp...
The Florida Keys, a 150-mile-long chain of tiny islands at the southernmost tip of the state, were under such development pressure in the early 1990s that the county placed strict limits on growth through the year 2002. Developers held vested rights...
The Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) Company was formed by Andres Duany, Robert Kramer and Jeffrey Fleeman. Kramer is an architect and partner with Fleeman in the development of Haile Village Center in Gainesville, Florida, one of the best...
We at New Urban News recently saw an advertisement for 20-plus home plan books from Home Planners Inc. of Tucson, Arizona. Four of the books looked promising from a neotraditional development standpoint: Affordable Home Plans; 200 Narrow-Lot Home...
Abacoa, the 6,000-unit traditional neighborhood development (TND) in Jupiter, Florida, is now under full-scale development. The Montreal Expos and St. Louis Cardinals played their first spring training season in a stadium in the town center, while...
Recognizing that smaller is sometimes better, Wal-Mart announced that it is opening three 40,000 square foot stores in the towns of Springdale, Bentonville and Sherwood, Arkansas. The average size of Wal-Mart stores are 92,000 square feet. The...
Detroit, an urban basketcase in recent decades, is going through a resurgence. Massive development projects in the city include two stadiums and three casinos (scheduled to open in 2001). Furthermore, General Motors is preparing to move its world...
Memphis will go ahead with implementation of its Greenlaw-Manassas Neighborhood Homeowner-ship Zone — although it was not chosen for a 1998 grant. The project is interesting from a new urbanist prospective, because it is located next to (and will...