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.
Building envelope standards, general guiding principles:
1. Buildings are aligned and close to the street.
2. The street is a coherent space, with consistent building forms on both sides of the street.
3. Buildings oversee the street (and square...
Kalamazoo, MI, is the latest city looking to employ New Urbanism to reinvigorate its riverfront.
The city received a $2.8 million Clean Michigan Initiative Riverfront Redevelopment Grant from the state to renew the area.
A preliminary plan,...
Once a small city unto itself — with its own phone system, water works, general store and infirmary — the 41.5-acre site in Columbus, Ohio, upon which the Jeffrey Mining Company once stood is now being transformed into Jeffrey Place. Wedged between...
As the Southern Village TND in Chapel Hill, NC, approaches buildout, developer Bryan Properties is gearing up for a new pedestrian-oriented project outside neighboring Durham. Property manager Jim Earnhardt says Bryan has contracted to purchase...
CNU member Linda Matthew is leading an effort to assemble very detailed information about new urbanist projects under construction. This database will supplement New Urban News’ annual overview of projects. Details will be available at CNU.org. If...
NewUrbanism.org has just opened its MarketPlace to serve the growing market demand for new urban practitioners. The MarketPlace will include listings of design firms, town planners, architects, developers, transportation planning firms, marketing...
Research shows mixed-use main streets often outperform conventional properties in their local markets. The strength of new urban town centers goes well beyond competitive retail sales — it also includes unexpectedly high demand for live/work...
Randal O’Toole and others in the Preserving the American Dream conference
treated “smart growth” and “New Urbanism” as if both terms have the same meaning. Most practitioners, however, make a distinction between the two. At the risk of...
The Rev. Eric O. Jacobsen thinks interest in New Urbanism among committed Christians, and especially among Christian intellectuals, is about to take off. Since completing a draft of Sidewalks in the Kingdom early last year, “there have been two...
CNU welcomes Suzahna Poliwka, a transportation engineer studying planning at the University of California, Berkeley. She will work for three months on alternative street standards.
The 2002-03 Knight Fellows are: Lolly Barnes, Chester “Rick” Chellman, Carol Coletta, Alicia Diaz, Ken Driggers, Robert Freeman, Jai Jennifer, Howard Katz, Kevin Klinkenberg, Pam Kramer, Michelle Robinson, Stuart Sirota, & Marie L. York.
After completing about 13 years of development, Kentlands is about to embark on its first redevelopment. One of the first traditional neighborhood developments (TNDs), Kentlands also includes a conventional suburban shopping district, originally...