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 next phase in CNU’s ongoing study of the nation’s obsolete shopping malls will help communities determine if local malls are ripe for revitalization and will propose policies for making redevelopment easier.
Amid growing national attention to...
The New Urbanism could reach Maine in the coming years. When Richard Remsen and Richard Aroneau proposed a new urbanist project in West Rockport 10 years ago, the recession shut down their plans. They now plan to revive Ingraham Corner, a 120-acre...
Los Angeles commuters can now see the first 750 apartment rise in the controversial Playa Vista project, but recent headlines have focused on developer Rob Maguire’s announcement that he has commissioned architect Frank Gehry to design at least four...
After the city has spurned several conventional project proposals, developers are now breaking ground on the first mixed-use development in the future town center.
The seeds were sown back in 1996, when the newly incorporated City of Wildwood,...
Among the developments that broke ground in 2001 are several high-density urban projects with the potential to become regional, in some cases national, models. In Midtown Atlanta, for example, new streets and other infrastructure are going in on the...
After World War II, the US launched massive housing and public works
programs to keep the nation’s economy from slipping back into a depression. Economically, the programs were a success. Urbanistically, they were a disaster.
Thousands of acres...
Supervisors in Fairfax County, Virginia, approved changes in the master plan to allow higher density development around proposed commuter rail stations along a proposed Metro line to Dulles Airport, according to the Washington Post.
Plans for revitalization of the District of Columbia’s Anacostia River waterfront are now on their way to being implemented. Lead consultants Hamilton, Rabinovitz & Alschuler and Wallace, Roberts & Todd will collaborate with seven other...
President Bush has nominated Emil Frankel for the position of Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Transportation Policy. Frankel currently serves on the board of directors of the Surface Transportation Policy Project (STPP) and is an advisor...
A new urbanist plan unites public officials, citizens, and developers over a contentious transit-oriented project in the San Francisco Bay area.
The extensive surface parking around the transit station in Pleasant Hill, California, has been the...
The nation’s fastest-growing suburban centers also provide opportunities for new urbanist development.
The populations of Irving and Plano, both suburbs of Dallas, have grown by 7,211 percent and 5,909 percent respectively since census figures...
Partners for Livable Communities released The Livable City: Revitalizing Urban Communities. The report includes facts, profiles and best practices. Contact: www.livable.com.