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.
Sharbell Development Corporation is finalizing construction plans for Village Center, in Plainsboro, NJ, with an eye to breaking ground in the spring. The site plan for the 16-acre development in Middlesex County won final approval on December 16th...
By a farecard-thin margin of 94,993 to 94,116, Seattle voters decided in November to build a monorail system. Voters authorized a 1.4 percent annual motor vehicle excise tax to build the first 14-mile, $1.7 million north-south leg of the system —...
Dowell Myers and Elizabeth Gearin of the University of Southern California list six factors that — along with the aging of the population — could lead more and more people to prefer denser, walkable neighborhoods. The six factors exist to varying...
A clue to the unfolding transformation of Beekman Street in Saratoga Springs is a tiny barber shop with a sign in its window announcing that the 15-by-20-foot building is soon to become a coffee bar.
Beekman Street, which decades ago boasted a mix...
Experts debate alternatives to conventional thoroughfare design and street networks.
December 10 and 11, 50 CNU members met in Oakland, California for a groundbreaking meeting about planning and designing streets. The gathering included...
Federal Reserve governor Edward Gramlich says the US could save $250 billion over the next 25 years by adopting smart growth strategies in preference to continued sprawl development.
In Gwinnett County, Georgia (suburban Atlanta), a new smart growth overlay ordinance targets a landscape of aging malls and big-box stores for redevelopment as mixed-use neighborhoods. Eligible developments—at least 10 acres and built on already-...
Ken Snyder, a former official with the Department of Energy, has formed PlaceMatters.com. The nonprofit organization is set up to help communities create more livable neighborhoods through what Snyder calls “vision-centered, place-based planning.”
For years, CNU members have sought ways to customize the organization so that it can serve specific geographical areas. Up to now, CNU has not had a method for supporting chapters. Consequently, members’ mutual education and networking remained...
A Village Square composed of eight buildings is the centerpiece of Devaun Park, a 483-unit TND being constructed on 149 acres on the outskirts of Calabash, North Carolina. The Square, situated within a five-minute walk of most residents’ homes, will...
The National Town Builders Association (NTBA) has formed a new executive board consisting of Theresa Burt of the Midland Companies, Jeffrey Cagan of the Cagan Management Group, Steve Maun of Leyland Development, Robert Turner of the Habersham Land...
Architect and planner Jonathan Barnett joined Wallace, Roberts & Todd. Barnett is the second board member of the Congress for the New Urbanism to join the firm this year.