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.
John Anderson of New Urban Builders offers 10 tips on designing neighborhoods and homes for energy conservation in sunny north central California: 1) Orient the long side of a rectilinear block running north/south — this allows narrow and deep lots...
The new master plan for Gorham’s Bluff in Alabama strives for greater economic diversity and proposes an innovative integration of an assisted living center.
When this remote community in the Appalachian Mountains was first designed in 1993, it...
SprawlWatch Clearinghouse offers “How Smart Growth Can Stop Sprawl: A Briefing Guide for Funders,” by David Bollier. Contact: (202) 332-7000 or see www. sprawlwatch.org.
The National Town Builders Association (NTBA) has launched the New Economy Town Collaborative, a group of developers and consultants dedicated to investing in and developing mixed-use centers in urban areas. The collaborative is looking to develop...
In a clear break with the “bigger is better” philosophy of
street design, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) has released a revamped third edition of its guide to residential street design. Residential Streets attempts to demonstrate that streets in...
The town remains a remarkable and influential achievement two decades after its founding.
In many ways Seaside, Florida, is antithetical to what many would consider
to be the ideal new urbanist icon. It is a “greenfield” project, far from any...
Transit-oriented development makes inroads in a conservative region.
In July, organizations in Idaho's Treasure Valley joined CNU in kicking off
a series of workshops to create a deep local consensus around the New Urbanism. The Treasure Valley...
Norton Commons, a TND in Louisville, Kentucky, has broken ground after four years of design and approval. The 600-acre site will include 2,800 new residences, retail, and a 20-acre commercial office campus. Triad Development Co. of Louisville is the...
Montebello Village is a 36-acre TND designed at a recent charrette and scheduled to break ground this fall in Greenville, South Carolina. The design by Alberto & Associates of Haddonfield, New Jersey, with architect David Mayernik, proposes 110...
Lennertz Coyle Associates of Portland has begun planning the first new urbanist community in Wyoming on the site of a 329-acre ranch in Teton County. The county has purchased the site with the goal of reducing the deficit of affordable housing in...
The planning commission in Woodford County, Kentucky, recently approved both a plan for a TND extension of Versailles, the county’s biggest town, and a proposed industrial park, also with new urbanist design.
Arcadia Realty hired Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to help design North Richland Hills Town Center, which is in the early stages of construction. The laboratory advised the developer and planner on the best ways to reduce heat retention in...