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.
Ben Starrett at the Funders’ Network says his organization is putting together a funders working group that will focus on climate change, land use, and transportation. “Lots of climate funders are working on various pieces of the carbon emissions...
Lawmakers in Colorado are considering a fee on gas-guzzling vehicles to fund smart growth efforts, according to a December 5 report in The Denver Post. The idea would be to impose a fee estimated at $80 on the purchase of new light trucks and SUVs...
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...
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...
“It may be useful to think of cities as great carbon-reduction machines,” Armando Carbonell told a Lincoln Institute of Land Policy symposium Nov. 1. Carbonell, chair of the Department of Planning and Urban Form at the Institute, said, “We’ve got to...
Although new urbanists are sometimes criticized for taking a retro approach to architectural style, they have been consistently innovative in their approach to building typology. One example is the hybrid courtyard units in a tightly packed, mixed-...
Miami architects Andres Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk will receive the Richard H. Driehaus Prize for Classical Architecture, which now comes with $200,000 — twice as much money as in past years. Richard Driehaus, founder and chairman of Chicago-...
LeylandAlliance of Tuxedo Park, New York, is developing a 24-unit infill project in Newburgh, New York, with Habitat for Humanity. Eight of the units will be subsidized by Habitat and sell for an estimated $80,000, according to Leyland copresident...
The City of Flagstaff, Arizona, unanimously approved a traditional neighborhood development (TND) ordinance closely modeled on the SmartCode in November, 2007, according to Roger Eastman, the city’s code administrator. New thoroughfare standards...
New rules have been adopted in Montgomery County, Maryland that could steer development into areas that are already urbanizing. The rules allow planners for the first time to consider public transportation when deciding where to permit development....
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...
After 13 years as New Mexico’s de facto state planner, Ken Hughes has moved to a new position as clean energy specialist in the state’s Energy Department. “Smart growth is an area I brought over with me, so I continue to keep a handle on the subject...