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.
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...
Shaker Square, the octagonal shopping center where residents of Shaker Heights catch commuter trains to downtown Cleveland, celebrated its 75th anniversary in November with a new owner committed to overcoming the mistakes that left half of its 150,...
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...
Developers of Blue Back Square, a large, planned new urban expansion of the West Hartford Center in Connecticut, are fighting a lawsuit from a national shopping mall operator, Taubman Centers of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan (see Dec. 2004 New Urban...
Developers are showing substantial interest in the new urban downtown proposed by Temple Terrace, Florida. The suburban city with 22,000 residents hired Torti Gallas & Partners to design the town center on 38 acres in 2004, and to create a plan...
By Michael Lassell Disney Editions, 2004, 160 pp., hardcover $50. Those looking for a putdown of Celebration won’t find it in Celebration: The Story of a Town, which is a generally glowing account and assessment of Disney’s famous Florida new...