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.
Avisitor to Gateway Crossing in the West End of Hagerstown, Maryland, might not sense that he has encountered a “project” or “development.” Gateway Crossing appears more like, well, Hagerstown — a small city with streets lined by two-story, single...
“In 2003, 4,827 Americans (11.3 percent of all traffic fatalities) died while crossing the street, walking to school or work, going to a bus stop, or strolling to the grocery, among other daily activities,” the Surface Transportation Policy Project...
Publisher Diane Dorney has changed the name of The Town Paper to New Towns and has added critiques of new urban neighborhoods, written by Laurence Aurbach. Aurbach devised a rating system based on 11 factors: housing diversity, mixed uses,...
Gooding’s corner grocery store in Celebration, Florida, closed, as many residents feared, when a new, larger Gooding’s opened near the highway. However, a new market/bakery is scheduled to open in the same 5,000 sq. ft. space in January 2005,...
Opponents lost their bid to prevent a Wal-Mart Supercenter from being built as part of a HOPE VI public housing redevelopment project in the Lower Garden District of New Orleans (see July/August 2003 New Urban News). The Wal-Mart is now operating on...
Nine new chapter organizing committees have joined ranks with CNU’s four existing chapters. These chapters-in-the-making welcome your participation.
Steve Oubre of Architects Southwest reports that a half dozen traditional neighborhood developments have recently been approved and/or begun construction in Louisiana. Watch for more coverage of these projects, designed by Oubre, based in Lafayette...
MLP Investments and Christner Inc. architects won an AIA Merit Award in urban design for their Hanley Station project in St. Louis, Missouri. The 8-acre, transit-oriented development with 150 apartments and 55,000 square feet of retail will begin...
Cleveland and its suburbs are getting a slew of projects that range from retail “lifestyle centers” — generally set apart from their surroundings and lacking housing — to mixed-use new urban developments. The latest project, unveiled in December,...
Port Royal is just a small town in South Carolina, but from a new urban perspective, it’s a town with a golden opportunity and with the right attitude and tools. The opportunity is a state-owned strip of land of 40-plus acres with over a mile of...
Five communities in three states received 2004 National Awards for Smart Growth Achievement from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which praised the communities for innovative approaches to development “that strengthen community identity...
Bill Dennis and his firm, B. Dennis Town & Building Design, have moved from Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Providence, Rhode Island. He is working on projects in England through the Prince’s Foundation for the Built Environment, as well as on...