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.
Ayrsley, the largest and densest new urban project in Charlotte, North Carolina, to date, is breaking ground on a 140-acre site bounded by Interstate 485 and South Tryon Street. The northern half of the site is planned around a boulevard terminating...
Charlotte City Council voted unanimously to disallow cul-de-sacs, except when geographic barriers prevent street connections. Existing cul-de-sacs won’t be affected. The vote is a significant step toward connectivity of neighborhood design, and was...
Editor’s note. This is the second in a series of articles that explore the economic realities behind new urban projects.
Fairview Village packs a lot of complexity into its 93 acres. Located in a suburb east of Portland, Oregon, the project not...
“Smart Growth and Affordable Housing: Making the Connection,” a report by the Smart Growth Network and the National Neighborhood Coalition, identifies a range of policies and approaches that help achieve both smart growth and affordable housing...
In massive Ghonsoli project, new urban planning principles mesh with Indian cultural traditions.
The Ghonsoli Neighborhood plan is one of a series of satellite communities for the expanding city of Bombay, India. These communities, collectively...
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...
CNU has released a new report, “Correcting the Record,” which corrects
some of the misinformation spread by pro-sprawl impresario Wendell Cox. The CNU report was released at Rail-Volution, a national transportation and land-use conference at which...
Robert and Daryl Davis, the founders of Seaside, Florida, received the 2001 Seaside Prize in a ceremony in December. The award has been given annually since 1993 to individuals or organizations making significant contributions to the quality and...
The Segway machine, a motorized, gyroscope-balanced scooter, was unveiled in early December. The early reports, that this scooter — originally known as “Ginger” or “it” — would drastically change personal transportation, seems like hype. Segway...
A three-day design workshop was conducted recently to examine new urban development alternatives for Ashford Barracks, England, a 132-acre brownfield site owned by the Ministry of Defense. The workshop was led by Ashford Borough Council, the...
A second phase of 445 apartment units is nearing completion in Austin Ranch, located in The Colony, Texas, approximately 25 minutes north of downtown Dallas. Master planned by Calthorpe Associates, Austin Ranch is a medium-density (approximately 24...