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.
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...
The Board also authorized Board members Jim Murley and Stephanie Bothwell to refine the Draft Chapter Handbook with the goal of reducing financial and institutional barriers to chapter formation. Input from members involved in chapter organizing is...
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...
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...
New Urbanism has been slow to catch on in New England, partly because many suburban and rural municipalities don’t want much residential development and especially don’t want the expense of educating more children. That’s certainly the case in...
Maryland’s smart growth program, one of the most widely noted efforts by a state government to curb sprawl, has largely survived the shift to a new Republican administration. Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. recently introduced a “Priority Places Strategy...
Better internal connectivity, smaller blocks, and pedestrian accessibility to shops and other commercial uses are reasons why buyers are willing to pay more to live in a new urban community, according to a recent study on New Urbanism and Housing...