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.
Streetcars have returned to downtown Portland, Oregon, after an absence of 51 years. The line runs for 2.4 miles through some of the city’s densest neighborhoods. Developers have covered part of the $57 million cost of the streetcar in return for...
Suburbia is denser out West than it is in other parts of the country, according to a study by the Brookings Institution. Rolf Pendall, assistant professor at Cornell University and one of the study authors, reports that smaller lot sizes, larger...
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...
A bipartisan group of US Representatives from New York and Massachusetts have introduced the Brownfield Redevelopment Incentives Act in the House. The Act would fund site assessment and cleanup on abandoned industrial sites.
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...
Save the date: CNU X will be held in Miami Beach, Florida, at the Loews Miami Beach Hotel, June 13 to 16, 2002. Thanks to the annual boost provided by the New York Congress this past June, CNU membership is at an all-time high. Our 2,600 members are...
Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co. (DPZ) has been hired by a private landowner to design a redevelopment of a 40-acre parcel in the edge city of Tysons Corner, Virginia. According to the Washington Post, the planned development may include high-rise...