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.
Arthur C. Nelson, formerly director of the Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech, took a new position in July as “presidential professor” at the University of Utah’s College of Architecture + Planning. Nelson’s work on housing supply and demand...
Ocean Springs development runs counter to a spate of bad development in Mississippi.Cottage Square, a model cluster of new urbanist cottages that was planned more than two years ago for Ocean Springs, Mississippi, as a response to Hurricane Katrina...
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...
A study in Raleigh, North Carolina, area shows why fire response is slower and more costly in the suburbs. The city looked at two fire stations in historic areas with street grids and three stations in the emerging suburbs, examining how many...
The Financial Times reported July 18 on a sure sign that sprawl is on the defensive, at least for now: Some developers are selling outlying land back to agricultural interests, having concluded that the market for constructing houses on it has...
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...
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.”
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(All graphs are: (Residential land value per SF x Density (Units per Acre)
Studies of transit-oriented development show that rising materials...
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...