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.
Since CNU was founded, the movement has in large part developed in conferences, seminars, summits, and newsletters. But every week, hundreds of urbanists are learning from intense on-line discussions. Electronic resources, both from CNU and from...
The next phase of CNU's greyfields research is moving toward completion. CNU's Ellen Greenberg and members of the Development and Project Implementation Task Force are writing a how-to manual on greyfield redevelopment. It will address how more...
The suburban Toledo community of Perrysburg, Ohio, is moving expeditiously to adopt a proposed urban village overlay district plan. On Jan. 9, the planning commission officially recommended the measure to city council.
City planning and zoning...
Afton Village, a TND in Concord, North Carolina, is getting its town center underway this year, after a nearby interchange was built on I-85 that will generate more traffic to the area. The first commercial building is complete, providing retail...
For a quarter-century, the old Albuquerque High School— five big buildings built from 1914 to 1940 just two blocks east of downtown—stood empty, lurching from one failed development proposal to another. Now, Rob Dickson’s Paradigm & Company is...
Pedestrians account for 12 percent of U.S. traffic deaths, but less than one percent of federal transportation funds goes toward protecting people on foot, according to a report from the Surface Transportation Policy Project. Orlando is the most...
HOPE VI began with a simple mission: razing public housing that was so rundown and unsafe that nobody could fathom restoring it to livability. Incorporating ideas from Henry Cisneros, Bruce Katz, Richard Baron, Peter Calthorpe, Andres Duany,...
Leon Krier is lead architect for a new building for the University of Miami School of Architecture, home to America’s first program in town and suburban design. Krier and his collaborators — Merrill and Pastor Architects of Vero Beach and Ferguson...
Chapters update: Since announcing the creation of a structure for student chapters, we’ve received calls from the University of Colorado, University of Charleston, Georgia Tech, and Notre Dame. Get into discussions with students and faculty members...
CNU is now offering extra discounts and benefits for larger groups with several new membership levels: Companies of up to fifteen employees, companies up to 30 employees, and another for companies with over 30 workers. Those joining at the new...
A gas station-convenience store at Calhoun and Meeting Streets in downtown Charleston, SC meets the street in a way that serves pedestrians. Instead of occupying the center or rear of the lot, the Charleston store hugs a front corner of its property...
A plan by Urban Design Associates of Pittsburgh for reconfiguring a large swath of East Baltimore won an Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects. Produced under Ray Gindroz, the plan includes a two million sq. ft. biotech campus next...