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.
Joe Barnes, recently general manager of I’On, and prior to that development manager and town architect at Celebration, has reestablished his consulting firm, Commonwealth Partnership. Barnes focuses on planning and implementation of traditional...
For exposing the full scope and effect of sprawl, there is no better tool than aerial photography. That is clearly evident from the book Above and Beyond: Visualizing Change in Small Towns and Rural Areas, a fascinating look at traditional and...
New urbanist designers Elizabeth Moule and Stefanos Polyzoides are now developing infill projects in their home city of Pasadena, California. The first, Meridian Court, is a 10-unit, $4-million courtyard project within walking distance of transit...
The Brookings Institution Press has released American Metropolitics: The New Suburban Reality, by Myron Orfield. The book combines demographic research with state-of-the-art mapping technology to illustrate trends in the nation’s top 25 metropolitan...
A growing number of universities are taking action to revitalize the neighborhoods that surround campuses. Duke University has financed the development of traditional infill housing for staff and faculty in the Trinity Heights project in Durham,...
Construction has begun on the 80-acre core of New Town, a 300-acre mixed-use, office, retail, and residential development in Williamsburg, Virginia. The town center, designed by RTKL and Cooper Robertson & Partners, will include 300-400 for-sale...
David Goldberg, an editorial writer at the Atlanta Journal Constitution and a prominent voice for New Urbanism and smart growth in Atlanta, has joined the national coalition Smart Growth America as national communications director.
Infill projects dominate as three design firms take home multiple awards.
Winners of the second annual Charter Awards were selected by a distinguished jury over the weekend of March 16. After spending days perusing more than 200 submissions from...
One of the largest Hope VI redevelopments, City West, is gearing up in Cincinnati, Ohio, near the downtown and neighborhoods affected by last year’s riots. The redevelopment of adjacent public housing projects, Lincoln Court and Laurel Homes, will...
Developer Earl Robertson has completed the first apartment building in the Lowell Neighborhood, an infill project in downtown Colorado Springs. The four-story building includes 14 units and is built next to a recently renovated, 108-year-old school...
The Revitalization Corp., chartered by the District of Columbia, has unveiled plans for a redevelopment of the southwest Potomac River waterfront into a mixed-use, pedestrian friendly neighborhood center. Plans call for apartments, shops and cafes,...
In San Diego, Mayor Dick Murphy’s City of Villages strategy is moving closer to becoming the framework for future growth in the city. The strategy’s goal is to channel growth into compact, walkable town centers and neighborhoods, and the mayor is...