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.
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...
The Bay Area Council (BAC), a regional, business-sponsored public policy organization, has launched a trio of funds intended to support real estate development, local businesses, and reclamation of small brownfield sites in 46 low- and moderate-...
Asmall traditional neighborhood development (TND) in Lower Moreland, Pennsylvania, that faced stiff public opposition over a two year period, moved forward when supervisors unanimously approved an amendment to the township’s zoning. The vote allows...
University architecture schools need a new emphasis on contextual urbanism, vernacular and classical architecture, and a Modernism that supports the fabric of the community, according to participants at the Windsor Forum on Design Education, which...
Wake up call on the potential impact of sprawl on aquatic ecosystems forges an important link between environmentalism and smart growth.
Current development patterns, if continued for just two more decades, will cause irreversible damage to the...
The Project for Public Spaces has reprinted the classic 1980 study of New York City’s plazas, “The Social Life of Small Urban Places” by William H. Whyte. The book and companion video are available for $35 and $25 respectively. Contact: (212) 620-...
It’s rare and perhaps significant that an architecture critic reviews something as utilitarian as a new supermarket, as Blair Kamin did recently in the Chicago Tribune. The reason: in place of another conventional big box, the new two-story Jewel-...
The City of Pittsburgh has unveiled a smaller plan to revitalize the downtown shopping district, known as Fifth and Forbes. The current $363 million plan includes a hotel, offices, retail stores, and 580 apartments. The plan maintains an urban...
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...