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 Baltimore Sun recently urged Baltimore County in Maryland to adopt “form-based zoning.” County Executive James T. Smith Jr. reportedly supports a switch to new urban codes to revitalize decaying commercial strips. “The County Council should...
Veridian Homes, Wisconsin’s largest builder, has broken ground on Cannery Square, the redevelopment of a historic cannery in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. The project will include 23 buildings with 20,000 to 40,000 square feet of commercial space; 83...
The ability to evolve is among the most important and underestimated differences between conventional zoning and Transect-based development. The social and economic forces at work on places are always changing. It is better to anticipate change and...
Stefanos Polyzoides of Moule & Polyzoides Architects led a charrette in late September that recommended developing a multi-way boulevard on Broadway east of downtown Albuquerque and preparing for eventual light-rail service on Central Avenue,...
Adivided state legislature and opposition from builders have dissuaded New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevey from pushing much of the anti-sprawl agenda he proposed last January. The New York Times reported Oct. 21 that McGreevey, a first-term...
Federal Realty Investment Trust is embarking on a major new urban development — a year and a half after announcing that it was moving away from “main street” communities in favor of conventional projects. The new urban project, called Rockville Town...
The August 2003 issue of the Journal of the American Planning Association included an article by Hollie Lund, called “Testing the Claims of New Urbanism: Local Access, Pedestrian Travel, and Neighboring Behaviors.” Lund surveys eight neighborhoods...
Traffic engineers Rick Chellman, Rick Hall, and Peter Swift are nearing completion of a book on Context Directed Design. Designed to appeal to local, regional, and state transportation officials, the book will cover the the techniques and principles...
Approving several proposals of student member Zach Borders, the CNU Board of Directors made new plans at its fall meeting to expand CNU’s Charter Awards to include a category for student work, and to program a student session at CNU XII. Awards...
ULI honored a number of new urban projects in its 2003 Awards for Excellence competition. Seaside, Florida, which began construction 20 years ago, was honored. Seaside was developed by Robert Davis and planned by Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co.
The...
A new development incorporating aspects of New Urbanism and sustainability is getting underway 32 miles south of Atlanta. Serenbe, a 900-acre project in Palmetto, Georgia, is designed in the form of two mixed-use hamlets. Seventy percent of the land...
A land use change was approved to put a 45,000 square foot supermarket in the town center of Middleton Hills, a traditional neighborhood development (TND) in Middleton, Wisconsin (see October/November 2003 New Urban News). Now the developer must get...