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 Saratoga Springs, New York, City Council unanimously adopted a zoning package May 20 that includes new gateway design overlay districts’ for prominent entrances to the city, and T-4, T-5, and T-6 zones, based on Andres Duany’s concept of the...
When Washington National Insurance vacated its home office in downtown Evanston in 1992, the city responded by establishing a tax-increment-finance (TIF) district to demolish its seven-story building and build the infrastructure for a new use. The...
Possible move of headquarters and proposed “democratization” of the organization stir debate.
The new executive director of the Congress for New Urbanism will probably be announced during the organization’s next annual conference, CNU XI, which...
The first “re-charrette” in New Urbanism’s 11-year history will take place just before CNU XI. Though it is not officially part of the CNU program, organizers with Duany Plater-Zyberk and Company assure us that all Congress participants are welcome...
Fairfax County government is wrestling with whether a proposed 60-acre development at Tysons Corner will transform that northern Virginia edge city into a human-scale center or just exacerbate its automobile dependence. Lerner Enterprises has...
Developer Forest City Enterprises has unveiled the retail tenant list for Stapleton’s East 29th Avenue Town Center, the first of several town centers planned for the 4,700-acre development rising on the site of Denver’s former airport. Designed by...
New Urbanism is one of the most influential planning trends of the last few decades, according to April’s 25th anniversary edition of Builder magazine, published by the National Association of Home Builders. The point was underscored by the editors...
By Daniel SolomonSolomon argues for a “density of detail” to bring liveliness to buildings — even modern buildings using inexpensive materials.
In what has been called the first reimagining of Long Island’s landscape since Levittown, a developer is proposing to build a small city on 492 acres. Jerry Wolkoff wants to redevelop the land, formerly part of the Pilgrim State Psychiatric Center,...
At CNU’s Transportation Summit in December, participants identified a handful of major “work streams” that they felt needed to be completed. At the time, volunteers signed up for a few of the tasks, leaving many unfilled. Since then, member Fred...
In Louisville, KY, Park DuValle’s town center is rapidly approaching buildout, positioning it to become the first of the nation’s HOPE VI developments to complete an urban retail component. Darnell Jackson, project director for developer Community...
Two years after breaking ground, Iowa City, Iowa’s Peninsula Neighborhood celebrated its Grand Opening on May 17. Iowa City’s only traditional neighborhood development, and one of the few in the Midwest, the 70-acre project is situated on a bluff...