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 Center for Disease Control (CDC) met in October to promote walkable neighborhoods and encourage multimodal transportation investments. CNU was represented, along with the Local Government Commission, Surface Transportation Policy Project, EPA,...
Post Properties announced that it completed its acquisition of Columbus Realty Trust (see September/October issue of New Urban News). Post and Columbus are publicly traded real estate investment trusts (REIT) specializing in apartment buildings....
In 1748, Giovanni Battista Nolli finished a 12-year project creating a vertical projection plan of Rome. The two-dimensional plan showed all areas accessible to the public — streets, piazzas, courtyards, interiors of cathedrals and other public...
A failed regional mall in Winter Park, Florida, was the subject of a redesign charrette in May, 1997. The consultants — Dover, Kohl & Partners, Gibbs Planning Group and Glatting Jackson Anglin Lopez Rinehart — proposed a two-step transformation...
Twenty-four foot wide streets are the safest, according to a study by Swift and Associates and the City of Longmont, Colorado. The study, Residential Street Typology and Injury Accident Frequency, looked at 20,000 automobile accident reports over an...
The Citizen Planner Institute, based in Miami, Florida, offers workshops to help citizens acquire basic town and street design principles. The institute also trains public officials, developers and design professionals. Directed by urban planner and...
Hope 6 projects are planned to replace public housing towers with neighborhoods by using principles of the New Urbanism in many cities around the nation. A few projects are built or under construction, and the early results are promising (see photo...
Shelley Poticha, CNU Executive Director, recently attended a meeting co-sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the American Farmland Trust, and the National Growth Management Leadership Project in Washington, D.C. Representatives...
Two senior executives in charge of the Celebration project for Disney have struck out on their own. Former Disney vice presidents Don Killoren and Charles Adams have formed
Celebration Associates of Orlando, Florida, and they will offer...
A National Town Builders Association (NTBA) is being formed in Washington, D.C. The NTBA is a project initiated by Neil Takemoto of World Idea Networks and has the backing of town planner Andres Duany. Takemoto has set dues as $3,500 for developers...
Saks Fifth Avenue is planning additional “main street” department stores, after successfully experimenting with smaller, downtown locations in Greenwich, Connecticut, and Charleston, South Carolina. These stores are about a third the size (35,000 to...
Researchers determine that good urban design is the reason why consumers are willing to pay more to live in the Gaithersburg neotraditional project.
A recent George Washington University study shows that consumers are willing to pay $30,000 to $...