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.
“We are getting some serious interest now,” George R. Grasser says of the public’s response to The Gardens at Oxbow, the first traditional neighborhood development in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area. Three houses have been built in the...
Reconnecting America, a nonprofit organization devoted to transit-oriented development (TOD), has established a Best Practices Clearinghouse — a searchable database on topics such as TOD affordability, funding, finance, zoning, and coding. The...
In the six years since the Portland (Oregon) Streetcar began operating, the city’s Pearl District has experienced a remarkable development boom — one that is causing other cities to consider starting streetcar systems of their own.
A $750,000 research project is underway that will evaluate how traditional neighborhoods impact walking patterns, automobile use, and quality of life at locations nationwide. Three new urban communities will be studied: New Town at St. Charles,...
By Chad EmersonEnvironmental Law Institute, 2007, 104 pp., paperback, $22.46.
A Houston builder has hired Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company to design three sizable traditional neighborhood development (TND) projects, according to the Houston Chronicle. Andres Duany will lead a series of charrettes for Lovett Homes. The TNDs...
Sprawling Atlanta is exceedingly expensive for working-class families, according to a study by the Center for Housing Policy. Families with income between $20,000 and $50,000 in Atlanta spend an average of 29 percent of their income on housing and...
Joyce Marin of Emmaus, Pennsylvania, has been named executive director of the Allentown Economic Development Corp., which is involved in development and redevelopment projects in Pennsylvania’s third-largest city (pop. 106,000).
Louisiana appears to be on the verge of its most ambitious planning in decades.In May the “Louisiana Speaks” process — 18 months of consultation organized by Calthorpe Associates and Fregonese Calthorpe Associates — concluded after more than 27,000...
Arlington County, Virginia, has shown that a suburban county can add plenty of housing, offices, and retail space without placing much additional burden on the roads.
Between 1996 and 2006 Arlington added 8,300 dwellings, 4.14 million sq. ft. of...
Even in the hinterland, communities are becoming enthusiastic about placing compact, mixed-use development around their train stations.
The EPA Office of Policy, Economics, and Innovation, Division of Development, Community, and Environment — often known as the “smart growth office” — was facing potential severe budget cuts by the Bush Administration as of early summer. “The already...