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.
A plan for 60 square miles around Research Triangle Park (RTP) in North Carolina calls for mixed-use, transit-oriented towns and neighborhoods “resembling downtown Chapel Hill,” according to a report in the Raleigh News & Observer. RTP has 90,...
The City of Lenexa, Kansas, plans to acquire a $9-million parcel in the near future to develop a 62-acre downtown with 1,700 residential units, 1 million square feet of office, and 300,000 square feet of stores and restaurants. The Haile Group,...
Few new urban communities have done better than Fairview Village in terms of incorporating civic uses. The 137-acre project in Fairview, Oregon, includes an elementary school, post office, and city hall. The latter two are full-fledged, functioning...
John Williams, founder of Atlanta-based Post Properties, has stepped down as chief executive after more than three decades. Williams, who will continue to chair Post’s board of directors, will be succeeded by company president David Stockert on July...
State, city, parish, and a local charitable foundation work together to revitalize the downtown of Louisiana’s capital using principles of the New Urbanism. Four years after the charrette, nearly 80 percent of the team’s recommendations have been...
Denser, more urban developments tend to generate fewer air and water pollutants and use less energy and resources on a per capita basis, according to research by Eliot Allen of Criterion Planners and Engineers. Allen has created an “Environmental...
he Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District has begun to encourage infill development by lowering sewer hook-up fees for development in established urban areas and raising the fees for greenfield subdivisions. The connection fee for a new...
A parking garage and other infrastructure are under construction in Atlantic Station, the 140-acre reclamation of the Atlantic Steel Mill site in Midtown Atlanta (see December 2000 issue). Master developer Jacoby Development has yet to finalize an...
Green Street Properties of Atlanta, an infill development company started by former internet entrepreneur Charles Brewer, has filed plans for Glenwood Park, a 28-acre, mixed-use neighborhood on an abandoned industrial site two miles east of downtown...
The Board of County Commissioners in Sarasota, Florida, has approved a preliminary version of Sarasota 2050, a comprehensive plan that encourages and provides incentives for compact, mixed-use development in the county’s unincorporated areas (see...
The Smart Growth Network has published “Getting to Smart Growth: 100 Policies for Implementation,” a guide for states and local communities. The publication is available free of charge at www.smartgrowth.org or by calling Juanita Smith at (202) 260...
Collaborating with a landowner, the City of Azusa attracted national firms to design a a transit-oriented community on one of the largest undeveloped infill sites in the Los Angeles region.
In a region where the Playa Vista
project in Los...