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.
New York designer Marianne Cusato is author of a 52-page publication, The Value of Design, which examines urbanism, traditional architecture, and building materials. Written for general readers, the full-color publication was produced by James...
The Warminster, Pennsylvania, Planning Commission unanimously approved a proposed 16-acre transit-oriented development, according to The Intelligencer newspaper. The plan, by developers J.G. Petrucci Co. of Asbury, New Jersey, will go to the board...
Metropolitan Baltimore is about to try the “Cool Spots” method of reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. Criterion Planners of Portland, Oregon, will conduct three “digital charrettes” in September and October with the planning directors of the City of...
Milt Rhodes in Raleigh, North Carolina, who in 2006 established New Urban Water Works to develop innovative stormwater management plans for communities, recently started another business. His Carolina Cottage Company designs and builds very small...
Some new urbanists are embracing the techniques of a people-oriented firm called Live Work Learn Play.Why do some new urban town centers fail to thrive?Is it because they’re not designed with the right sizes of shops in the right locations? Is it...
The Office of Sustainable Development in Portland, Oregon, has decided that one of the best ways to cut down on greenhouse-gas emissions is by fostering what it calls the “20-minute neighborhood.”
The Hercules, California, City Council approved a new urbanist conceptual plan July 22 that calls for construction of 1,224 housing units, 42,000 sq. ft. of retail, 81,000 sq. ft. of offices, and 134,000 sq. ft. of flex space on 42 acres of the city...
On August 21 NPR reported on a steel mill that is being converted to a town center at the interestion of state routes 29 and 202 in Malvern, Pennsylvania. The 100-acre Uptown Worthington, now under construction, is planned to include 745,000 square...
“Hybrid Coding” is explored in the May issue of the American Planning Association’s periodical Zoning Practice. Author Arista Strungys, a planner at Camiros Ltd., writes that replacing a conventional zoning code with a form-based code may be too...
Only 3 percent of home buyers expressed a willingness to give up proximity to public transportation in today’s market, according to a recent poll by Builder magazine. More buyers (6 percent) are willing to give up proximity to shopping and/or work....
Photo caption 1: DPZ Town Planning Director Gahlina Tahchieva leads an open-source session on suburban retrofits at CNU XVI.
Emily Talen won this year’s award for best article in the Journal of Planning Education and Research, for her analysis, “New Urbanism, Social Equity, and the Challenge of Post-Katrina Rebuilding in Mississippi.” Talen, a planning professor at...