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 blighted Indianapolis neighborhood gets another chance with the help of federal funds and new urban design guidelines.
The fate of the Fall Creek neighborhood on Indianapolis’ near north side mirrors that of countless urban neighborhoods in the...
The city picks a design and development team for a $350-million, transit-oriented, walkable neighborhood that will fill oceanfront property on the Rockaways peninsula in Queens.
The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development...
The 209-unit Mirasol apartments are under construction adjacent to downtown Celebration near Orlando, Florida. The units average 1,700 square feet and will rent from $900 to $1,900. The project increases the density downtown, and raises the number...
One of the nation’s largest new urban brownfield projects, Mission Bay in San Francisco, is facing difficulties with the recession and collapse of the office market in the Bay area, according to the San Francisco Examiner. Catellus Corp. has stopped...
In Provo, Utah, The Village at Riverwoods was recognized with the Envision Utah Governor’s Quality Growth Award for Grand Achievement in Planning and Implementation. The 145-unit development of townhomes, flats, and live/work lofts will be completed...
The University of North Carolina’s Center for Urban and Regional Studies launched the Smart Growth and the New Economy Program to examine links between the two topics. Communities that pursue smart growth may have a competitive edge in attracting...
One of the greatest challenges for a developer or public official who wants
to promote New Urbanism is finding the best way to concisely explain the basic principles. New presentations from the CNU help get across the big picture. CNU’s “Tour of...
A $250 million, five-block project in a former industrial district of Portland, Oregon, combines new urban planning, high-density, mixed-use, contextual design, and adaptive reuse. In short, the Brewery Blocks, billed as Portland’s largest private...
The Canada Lands Company (CLC), the primary developer of government land in Canada, is moving toward making new urban principles the standard in its projects. CLC is a Crown corporation, i.e., the government is the only shareholder, which allows the...
Sprawl Watch’s recent report, “Creating a Healthy Environment: the Impact of the Built Environment on Public Health,” cites primary connections between sprawl and health as found by doctors and researchers from the CDC. Contact: allison@sprawlwatch....
“Smart Growth: The Alternative to Suburban Sprawl,” a 23-minute video by William B. Morton, begins by describing the loss of quality of life and environmental degradation caused by suburban sprawl, contrasts current development patterns with those...
The first major round of US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Hope VI grants under the Bush Administration, totaling nearly $500 million, focuses on principles of the New Urbanism.
Begun in 1993, the Hope VI program has...