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.
The bulk of this year’s Charter Awards from the Congress for the New Urbanism honor projects on redeveloped sites — contradicting the persistent notion that New Urbanism is mainly about building on virgin land at the suburban fringe.
Other Mississippi communities move forward with form-based codes and plans.
By the American Planning AssociationJohn Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2006, 736 pp., hardcover $199.
The idea of calling prefab new urbanist-designed dwellings in Louisiana “Gulf Coast Cottages” has been put to rest no more than two months after it was first raised. Andres Duany now says “Katrina” is the brand that will be used for all the cottages...
The City of Toronto won a significant legal battle in March when the Ontario Municipal Board upheld the city’s right to limit drive-through facilities. The Board ruled that the city was justified in refusing to let Canadian Tire Corporation include...
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson has become the first governor to veto legislation curtailing eminent domain. Since the US Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. New London last June, more than 40 states have passed or considered legislation to cut...
Chad Emerson of Faulkner University’s Jones School of Law in Montgomery, Alabama, is looking into the feasibility of starting a Center for Smart Growth Legal Studies. If established, the Center would offer education and advocacy on legal and...
Smart Growth America has released Version 2 of Smart Growth Shareware, which contains information on 120 downloadable publications and fact sheets; website links to more than 100 other resources; and PowerPoint presentations and materials from local...
What is probably the biggest demonstration of alternative energy in new development projects in the US was made possible through $2 billion in tax free “green bond” financing for four projects — three of them examples of New Urbanism. About half of...
St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, which had 67,000 residents before Hurricane Katrina damaged most of the homes in its jurisdiction, may pull back from the most flood-prone areas, such as those along the 40-Arpent Canal, where a surge of water caused...
New Town at St. Charles, Missouri, is the top-selling development out of 17,280 developments in a region that includes all or part of 16 states, according to a survey by MarketGraphics, a market research firm based in Brentwood, Tennessee. New Town...
By John M. DeGroveLincoln Institute of Land Policy, 2005, 360 pp., paperback $30.