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.
Geoffrey Anderson, who had headed the smart-growth program of the US Environmental Protection Agency since 2000, has been chosen to lead the advocacy group Smart Growth America. He will start work Jan. 21 as Smart Growth America’s president and CEO...
Atlanta-based designer Lew Oliver, who has had a hand in many new urban developments across the US, won five gold awards and four silver awards in the annual Obie Awards of the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association. Oliver, founder and principal...
Baltimore-based Ayers Saint Gross is expected to begin work in January on SmartCode land development rules for Long Beach, Mississippi. The responsibilities of Ayers Saint Gross will include drafting subdivision requirements for the city, which had...
The Virginia Department of Transportation, which sets standards not only for state highways but also for many community streets, has historically been an impediment to new urbanist development.
The US Green Building Council has launched the Educational Provider Program, which will give building professionals a course catalog of green building educational programs. The educational offerings have been peer-reviewed and approved by the...
An analysis of 11 Midwestern metro areas suggests that when population density is increased by 10 percent, household vehicle travel and emissions decline by 3.5 percent. “We found compactness to be associated with greater reductions in vehicle...
Torti Gallas tells how it incorporated sustainability traits into its projects.“Is New Urbanism inherently sustainable? Only partly,” says Tom Gallas, partner and chief business strategist at Torti Gallas and Partners. That’s why the Silver Spring,...
Out of the Ivory Tower and Into the Streets By Judith Rodin Review by Philip Langdon
Planners from Dover, Kohl & Partners of Coral Gables, Florida, spent more than a week in the Spring Hill area of Mobile, Alabama, working with residents, city planners, and traffic engineers on changes to three major intersections. The Press-...
Crosland LLC, developer of mixed-use communities such as Birkdale Village in Huntersville, North Carolina, has teamed up with Northwestern Mutual to create the Southeastern Investment Fund. The new fund is expected to have $225 million for land...
The City of Duluth, Minnesota, has received a $170,000 grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and a $40,000 grant from the Minnesota Lake Superior Coastal Program to help create a new Unified Development Code. The code will update the...
Rather than see the school board in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, replace the city’s five neighborhood elementary schools with one mega-school containing 1,800 students, Tom Hylton helped launch a campaign that defeated five incumbent school board...