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.
Virginia Governor Timothy M. Keane decided in September that the state will request federal support for construction of an elevated Metro rail line through Tysons Corner rather than push for a four-mile rail tunnel through the Virginia “edge city.”...
The City of Moss Point, Mississippi, one of the coastal communities devastated by Hurricane Katrina, is moving forward with a plan that includes adoption of the SmartCode, according to press reports. Steve Renfroe, chairman of the Moss Point...
The International City/County Management Association and the Smart Growth Network have released “This is Smart Growth,” a publication that illustrates how communities can improve the quality of development. It features 40 places around the country,...
Transportation engineer Billy Hattaway, who consulted at the Mississippi Renewal Forum in October, 2005, has joined Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin Lopez Rinehart of Orlando, Florida. Hattaway previously worked at Hall Planning & Engineering (...
Brent Toderian, who has worked with new urbanist projects as a planner for the City of Calgary, has moved to Vancouver to take the Director of Planning position. As the Vancouver Globe and Mail reports, he will be taking over from the city’s “...
Proposals for planting rows of trees along the roads — a traditional technique for shaping pleasing public spaces — are often opposed by transportation engineers, who contend that a wide travel corridor, free of obstacles, is needed to protect the...
Public workshops lead toward a statewide vision of the future, while 15 teams work on planning New Orleans.
Andres Duany hopes to help revive the art of village-building in Scotland. Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co. has been commissioned by Moray Estates Development Company to help plan a new Highland community containing about 5,000 houses, along with shops...
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has cleared the site in Pass Christian, Mississippi, where its store was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, and has hired consultants to study a proposal for constructing a “Wal-Mart village” there, says local architect Robin Riley...
In a region with numerous examples of mixed-use town centers and TNDs completed, Ayrsley in Charlotte, North Carolina, is taking off. Planned for a total of 2,000 residential units, 1.8 million square feet of offices, 400,000 square feet of retail,...
Urban designer and architect Bill Dennis of Providence, Rhode Island, created a plan for a 160-acre traditional neighborhood development in Baton Rouge, Lousiana, in July. The plan includes a main street, library, post office, Montessori school, and...
Fairfax County, Virginia, has issued a request for proposals for redesigning one of the nation’s most famous, or notorious, edge cities — Tysons Corner. The consultant selected by the county would help a business-civic group known as the Tysons Task...