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.
Southport Green, an extraordinarily expensive new urban pocket neighborhood in Fairfield, Connecticut, is again trying to attract homebuyers — two years after the project was foreclosed on by TD Bank. This time, asking prices for the high-quality,...
With a unanimous vote of city council, San Antonio approved a form-based code for optional use citywide. The Form-Based Zoning District (FBZD), based on the SmartCode, began with a Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company charrette and was customized by...
New Urban Free Agents, sponsored by the New Urban Guild, is a network of free-agent planners, architects, and designers who have worked within the New Urbanism. “Almost all architecture and design firms have been laying off employees since the...
The Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) accreditation program is gathering momentum. The professional program, announced by CNU in June and managed in partnership with the University of Miami, was established “to recognize the talent within the new...
The Prince’s Foundation uses traditional urbanism to reclaim difficult settings.��A Caribbean version of new urbanist techniques is being relied upon to rebuild an impoverished part of West Kingston, Jamaica, that has been ravaged by 30 years of...
From Despair to Hope is the story of the transformation of public housing, a story that deeply involves New Urbanism.
Patrick L. Phillips, president and CEO of ERA AECOM (formerly Economics Research Associates), will become the new CEO of the Urban Land Institute Sept. 14. It appears that ULI will continue to emphasize smart growth policies, which have become a...
Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley announced his support in August for a 16-mile light-rail line that would tie together many northern suburbs of Washington, DC. Transit advocates say the proposed Purple Line, which would run from an existing...
Joint US program of HUD, DOT, and EPA will target regional planning, zoning reform, and research.
Developer Robert Chapman has found a formula for succeeding with a new urban development in this severe real estate downturn: team up with a growing institution that can nearly guarantee a strong market.
The most recent census data shows that cities are growing at the expense of suburbs, according to a July 1 Wall Street Journal article. The demographic shift is a combination of preference for urban environments, and inability to sell homes in the...
Montgomery County, Maryland, a suburban area of nearly 1 million people bordering the nation’s capital, is considering adopting a system that would offer financial incentives and reduced impact fees to developers who build near mass transit, provide...