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.
As a young associate in the real estate department of a large law firm, I was taught that the job of the developer’s attorney, first and foremost, is to protect the developer — to give the developer as much power over the community as the law, and...
The most intense concentration of traditional neighborhood developments (TNDs) in North America is in Markham, Ontario. The suburban Toronto municipality of 150,000 residents adopted a new urbanist planning policy in the early 1990s. Four new...
New Urbanism provides alternative vision for growth.
A wave of recent anti-sprawl initiatives and legislation is intended to promote compact, infill development in a number of states, particularly in the Northeast. While the New Urbanism is...
More than 72 percent of citizens in Windsor, California, voted to enact an urban growth boundary (UGB) in January. Windsor’s UGB secures a boundary for 20 years. During the last year an a half, UGBs have been adopted in the San Francisco Bay Area...
At their Winter Board Meeting in San Francisco the first week of February, the CNU Board made significant changes. New leadership for the organization (the Executive Committee) was chosen and two new Board positions were added.
After two years of...
Susan Mudd, Executive Director of Citizens for a Better Environment, a nonprofit advocacy organization based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, will serve as the new Chair of the Environmental Task Force. She will be working with both current and new task...
King Farm, a 440-acre, 3,200-unit traditional neighborhood development (TND) project in Rockville, Maryland, will open its model homes in May, 1998, and the first buyers will be moving in this summer. Like Celebration, Abacoa, and a few other large...
Bois-Franc, near Montreal, is marketed as a “new city.” That’s reveals not just its urban location and high density — but also the relatively positive Canadian attitude toward cities, compared to the U.S., where the word “city” is likely to provoke...
Politicians and policy makers are rediscovering how government affects growth patterns and the form of development.
ruce Katz, chief of staff for Henry Cisneros when he was Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, now directs the $3.5 million...
Harbor Town in Memphis, Tennessee, one of the first and best known traditional neighborhood developments (TNDs), recently opened its first commercial town center building. After only a few weeks of operation, the building has added a new dimension...
Planners for the City of Gainesville, Florida, are preparing a traditional neighborhood development (TND) ordinance to be considered for adoption in 1998. The city has reviewed six TND codes approved by other local governments: Dade County, Florida...
Middletown, Delaware, recently revised its zoning and subdivision ordinances based on their concept of “mobility first.” Complimentary changes were developed for the Delaware Department of Transportation street design standards. The year- long...