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...
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...
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...
III. Parking/plaza techniques
Category: public open space.
Subcategory: plazas and squares.
There is a strong reflex for a designer simply to attach the label “parking lot” to an area and then to get on with the design of the building. In fact...
The Greater Minnesota Housing Fund has published “Building Better Neighborhoods,” a 92-page book that lays out many new urban design principles as tools for Minnesota towns to build affordable housing in mixed-income neighborhoods. The book,...
James Howard Kunstler, pessimist extraordinaire, traveled much of the Western world recently, and he’s brought back vivid tales of eight cities, at least three of which are in his view going straight to hell.
The nation’s largest charitable foundation dedicated to health issues, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has funded a new, $24.5-million project that links health and smart growth principles. Active Living Through Design, to be headquartered at...
Yet problems persist with acceptance and service, particularly in greenfield developments. The bus is the most frequently used mode of public transportation in the US today, but in transit-oriented development planning the bus tends to play...
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...