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.
Affordable-housing advocates in Austin, Texas, are promoting “alley flats” as an answer to the city’s escalating housing costs.“From 2000 to 2007, the median home price in Austin has risen from $144,000 to $239,000 — an increase of 66 percent —...
By Michael Kwartler and Gianni LongoLincoln Institute of Land Policy, 2008, 104 pp., $35 paperback.The last 20 years have brought a blossoming of citizen-planning processes and an array of innovative tools that help citizens understand future...
“Honey, Who Shrunk the Wal-Mart,” could be a title of a documentary film sometime in the future. The big-box merchandiser has introduced a 10,000-15,000 square foot neighborhood grocery store format, according to a report in the San Diego Union-...
Sim Van der Ryn began earning an international reputation as the “father of the green building” during his tenure as California State Architect in Governor Jerry Brown’s administration. His pioneering role advancing sustainable urbanism received...
Home sales fell more precipitously in Queens in the past year than in any of New York City’s other four boroughs. One major exception to Queens’ drop-off has been brisk sales activity in Arverne by the Sea, a 127-acre mixed-use development that has...
Developers of new urban (NU) communities — founders — are often disappointed and rather surprised to find out that they are not universally beloved by homeowners.
Tysons Corner, one of America’s best-known, automobile-dependent edge cities, would become much more of a real city if a plan approved by the Fairfax County (Virginia) Board of Supervisors is carried out. In late September the supervisors endorsed a...
The Council for European Urbanism (CEU) and the Congress for New Urbanism (CNU) are launching a joint effort to counter the effects of global warming.
A core line from the Charter of the New Urbanism states, “We are committed to reestablishing the relationship between the art of building and the making of community through citizen-based participatory planning and design.” To that end, CNU is...
Its impact will partly depend on yet-to-be-determined greenhouse gas reduction targets for new development.
Rendering 1 caption (on page 1): An avenue in the downtown of Verano, a new urban development planned in San Antonio, Texas, is rendered below. See story on page 8 and commentary on page 2.
One of every five American households will contain at least one disabled resident by 2050, according to a report from Stanley Smith and Stefan Rayer of the University of Florida and Eleanor A. Smith, executive director of Concrete Change, a national...