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.
A two-year study in New England found that when uses are mixed, 24 percent less parking is needed. Norman Garrick and Wesley Marshall of the University of Connecticut examined six centers in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont. Three were...
A Reuters article in July reported on how a family of four has saved money by moving to the Stapleton development in Denver, Colorado. This has allowed the family to get by with one car. “Resident Evelyn Baker says Stapleton appeals to a ‘cheapskate...
Cranberry Township, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, approved a traditional neighborhood development (TND) ordinance drawn up by Thomas Comitta Associates of West Chester, Pennsylvania. The Cranberry code allows for three types of TND with gross...
The Congress for the New Urbanism has created a six-minute video on the importance of urban design in fighting climate change. The video, A Convenient Remedy to the Inconvenient Truth, uses examples to show how the choice of a walkable, mixed-use,...
The Journal of Health Politics, Policy, and Law published a special June issue called “Active Living, the Built Environment, and the Policy Agenda,” which features articles on the impact that biking, trails, land-use policy, school planning, and...
New York City is planning to introduce variable parking meter rates in parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn, beginning in October. On certain congested corridors, the city will double the rates charged by the meters during heavy traffic periods. The goal...
About 11 blocks of Granville Street, historically one of the premier shopping streets in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, will get a $20.8 million (Canadian) ($20.4 million US) makeover, starting in September. The street’s retailing started...
By Stacy MitchellBeacon Press, 2007, 336 pp., $15 paperback
Waveland, Mississippi, one of the municipalities most devastated by Hurricane Katrina, has turned away from new urbanist rebuilding plans. Planner and architect Robert Orr, who participated in the Mississippi Renewal Forum in October, 2005, reports...
The US Environmental Protection Agency has created a suggested stormwater permit framework geared to encouraging higher-density, mixed-use development and “low-impact” runoff management techniques. The EPA permit framework is voluntary, but it...
The City of Hercules, California, has been dragging its feet on adopting a master plan for the final 40 acres of a large new urban waterfront development that has been under construction in central Hercules for the past seven years (see March 2005...
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