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.
Moderate and high-density urban environments are more appealing when residents can connect with nature through access to green space.
The Grand Concourse in the Bronx is undergoing an $18 million renovation, one of the largest complete streets projects in the US — and perhaps the one that directly affects the most people.
Upwards of 1.6 million young adults have college degrees in the New York City metro region, and many of them have grown fond of urban, walkable living.
The plan to transform Somerville, Massachusetts, and connect it to an emerging economy also honors and enhances old neighborhoods.
More than 13 percent of the US population is over 65, and by 2030, that figure will be 20 percent, according to this real estate trends article. That means that the US today has about 42 million senior citizens, and that figure will rise by 25...
Strategies for dealing with at-grade border vacuums: Arterial roads
Streetsblog posted a piece called "sprawl madness" about two houses with adjoining backyards in suburban Orlando. "If you want to travel the streets from point A on Anna Catherine Drive to point B on Summer Rain Drive, which are only 50 feet...
The previous post discussed what border vacuums are. This post will discuss solutions for at grade border vacuums like parking lots and vacant lots.
A six-story, 273-unit apartment building with ground-floor retail is proposed near a transit stop on Connecticut Avenue in Washington, DC. The Torti Gallas and Partners building, called Park Van Ness, has an appealing design with nods to Art Deco,...
Building infrastructure with the primary purpose of creating jobs, with little consideration to context, is setting a bad precedence and setting up communities for unexpected liabilities.
Many real estate professionals are confident that Millennials will eventually leave the hip, urban neighborhoods for the back yard and dog of the suburbs — especially when they start raising a family. The catch: They appear seeking out the urban...
A study of 205 blocks in high-crime areas of Los Angeles suggests that increasing residential zoning in blocks that are otherwise zoned for commercial can reduce crime. The study, published in the February issue of University of Pennsylvania Law...