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.
Looking for a compact alternative to fuel-consuming taxicabs? Some US cities and towns are beginning to see pedicabs — the modern equivalent of rickshaws — carrying passengers through their downtowns and other high-traffic areas. “I really believe...
About 1,500 attendees once again broke the record for the 2007 New Partners for Smart Growth conference in Los Angeles in mid-February. Last year the figure was over 1,200, and the year before that just under 1,000. New Urbanism was a significant...
At least 20 retailers have opened in the past three years in the commercial district of Prospect, in Longmont, Colorado, reports developer Kiki Wallace. A restaurant is going to move into a concrete building known as Johnson’s Corner, which is...
The Whole House Building System is off to a good start, producing complete townhouses and detached dwellings in a traditional neighborhood development (TND) setting.
Urban Design Associates (UDA) has been selected to prepare the rebuilding plan for the Lafitte, Treme, and Tulane-Gravier neighborhoods in New Orleans. Providence Community Housing of New Orleans and Enterprise Homes of Baltimore, commissioned UDA...
Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland is collaborating with two local developers, MRN Limited Partnership and Zaremba Inc., to create a $150 million arts, retail, and residential development on 8.5 acres at University Circle, the city’s...
The Mississippi Renewal Forum, the CNU-organized effort to plan the future of 11 coastal communities flattened by Hurricane Katrina, received a Gulf Guardian Award in December from Gulf of Mexico Program. The Gulf program, underwritten by the US...
More support for the idea that street trees are a civic amenity, not a safety hazard, is offered by the study “Street Trees and Intersection Safety,” by University of California, Berkeley, urban design professor Elizabeth Macdonald. The study notes...
Writer, teacher, and architect Witold Rybczynski is winner of both the 2007 Seaside Prize, to be presented Jan. 27, in Seaside, Florida, and the Vincent Scully Prize, to be awarded Jan. 17 at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC....
Leland Speed has stepped down as executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority, a position in which he worked on the redevelopment of communities damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
The SmartCode cleared a hurdle in Pass Christian, Mississippi, where it was approved by the planning commission in December. Pass Christian was one of the communities on the coast devasted by Hurricane Katrina.