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.
Ho-Chunk Village, a 40-acre new urban project in Native American land in Winnebago, Nebraska, has received a $200,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as part of the Active Living by Design program. Ho-Chunk Village, planned by HRD, 180...
Donald Watson, Alan Plattus, and Robert G. Shibley, Editors Judging by its title, you might think Time-Saver Standards for Urban Design would be a source mainly for street widths, sidewalk dimensions, parking ratios, and other matters than can...
Last fall, ridership on a Metrobus route in Arlington County, Virginia, suddenly jumped 30 percent. The reason? At 22 bus stops on the route, the county installed displays of the bus schedule and a laminated drawing of the bus route overlaid on a...
There continues to be an explosion of publications and conferences about the benefits of developing densely. At the Urban Land Institute’s fall meeting, on “Building Better Communities Through Well-Planned Density, “ Michael P. Buckley, director of...
Modern-style townhouses and condominiums are now for sale in the Stapleton development in Denver. The 68-unit Syracuse Village by builder BMW Realty Partners was designed by Wolff Lyon Architects and is among the most affordable housing in Stapleton...
Clark’s Grove, an infill neighborhood in Covington, Georgia, now has 27 houses built, and live/work units are scheduled for construction in January, 2004, town planner Randy Vinson told New Urban News. The developer of the 90-acre project is Clark’s...
The Local Government Commission offers the Compact Development Compact Disc Toolkit (CD2), which provides tools for government officials, community leaders, planners, developers, and smart growth advocates. Included are a Powerpoint presentation on...
Metropolitan areas with more compact growth, a wide mix of land uses, plentiful transportation options — and which were mostly developed prior to the use of the automobile – have generally lower combined costs for housing and transportation,...
Toronto urban planner Ken Greenberg is advising the City of Boston on how to bring coherence to the 1.5-mile Rose Kennedy Greenway, which is being created where the “Big Dig” has submerged the Central Artery. Greenberg will focus not only on the...
According to a study by the US EPA, “Travel and Environmental Implications of School Siting,” students are more likely to walk or bike to their school if it’s nearby and if the environment is pedestrian-friendly. By increasing the number of students...
An eight-story building that opened over the last several months in Coral Gables, Florida, features a Publix grocery store on its ground floor and 159 apartments above. The Douglas Grand, as the building on Douglas Road is called, contains 22,000...
The planning commission of the City of Galveston, Texas, approved the long-awaited 125-acre traditional neighborhood extension of the city recently. Groundbreaking on the Beachtown project could take place in the spring of 2004. The project was...