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 Miami Congress will turn the spotlight on the role the New Urbanism can play in the transformation of suburbs into towns. Over the past five years, an increasing number of postwar suburbs and small cities have taken on the challenge of turning...
The new urban master plan and overlay zoning for the area surrounding Dadeland Mall in Kendall, Florida, is beginning to bear fruit. The Miami-Dade County Board of County Commissioners passed the zoning in 1999 (see January/February 2000 New Urban...
The City of Greenville, South Carolina has a new master plan for the Haynie-Sirrine neighborhood, a predominantly African American community degraded by the conversion of the main thoroughfare into a six-lane highway in the 1950s. The master plan by...
A master plan for the Ocean View section of Norfolk, Virginia, was unveiled by architect Ray Gindroz of Urban Design Associates (UDA). The plan recommends the creation of a “village center” adjacent to the site of a new urban neighborhood soon to be...
Programs focusing on smart growth and the New Urbanism were launched at four universities in the past year. Most have stressed education; research and hands-on design are also on the agendas.
In Miami, a group of professionals from different...
The Baldwin Park project is the largest new urban infill development in Florida.
Since the Pentagon designated the Naval Training Center for closure in 1993, this 1,100-acre site has been the subject of one the nation’s most extensive public...
Bill Lennertz and Steve Coyle, of Lennertz Coyle & Associates in Portland, Oregon, founded the nonprofit NCI to research “the art and science” of design charrettes and educate professionals on the subject. Board members are Elizabeth Plater-...
Whitman’s speech caps a well-attended event in San Diego.
Speaking to a sold-out crowd at the New Partners for Smart Growth conference in San Diego, California, in late January, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Christine...
The Greater Minnesota Housing Fund has published “Building Better Neighborhoods,” a 92-page book which describes and illustrates urban design principles for towns and cities. Contact: (615) 221-1997.
Proposal to build neighborhood faces uphill battle.
For close to two years, developer Joe Duckworth has been seeking approval for Woodmont, a traditional neighborhood development (TND) planned for a 42.6-acre vacant site in the affluent Lower...
Despite the recession, retail analyst Robert Gibbs predicts that commer-cial town center developments will proliferate as the growth in conventional malls stalls.
In recent years, one of the most prominent trends in the shopping center industry has...
The Stapleton development in Denver has a Workforce Housing Program designed to ensure that at least 10 percent of the for-sale homes will be relatively affordable. A total of 800 condominiums, townhomes, and duplexes will be built under this...