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 group of foundations focusing on smart growth is undertaking a study of real estate finance cosponsored by the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU). The Funders Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities, based in Miami, was founded in 1999...
Leon Krier and Andres Duany are teaching a design studio at Yale University this semester. Students will travel to study the transects in 20 cities and document building types, frontages, and the use of buildings and open space. This information...
“... the New Urbanism draws life from a humanist tradition in civic art, along with an essentially classical idealism. And in stark contrast to the “architectural circles” for which [New York Times architectural critic] Herbert Muschamp speaks, the...
Temple University’s Center for Sustainable Communities recently received a $1.5-million federal grant. University officials hope academic neutrality will foster agreements between competing groups, while developers and environmentalists hope the...
Recent opposition to a development in Suffolk, Virginia, shows the uphill battle that many developers of new urbanist projects face — even in a municipality with progressive zoning provisions. Driver Village, a 45-home subdivision, was narrowly...
The Flag House Courts redevelopment, a Hope VI project in East Baltimore, is one of four winners of the American Institute of Architects’ Honor Award for outstanding regional and urban design. Hope VI is HUD’s program to redevelop public housing....
Oklahoma’s first new urbanist development, the Village at Central Park, is now under construction six blocks from downtown Tulsa. The infill project includes 103 units in brownstone townhomes and loft homes, as well as eight three-story retail...
Cooperation and education are the keys to building human-scale streets and ensuring public safety.
Over the last decade, many designers, engineers, developers, local officials, emergency response personnel, and neighborhood residents have found...
The DPZ-designed units in Atlanta, built by Beazer Homes, demonstrate the versatile nature of the flex house. Like nearly all flex houses, they do not have raised foundations, so the first floor is at grade. This is vital for commercial units facing...
Homebuilders are introduced to an idea which is becoming increasingly popular with new urbanists.
Glatting Jackson of Orlando has hired Ian M. Lockwood, a nationally recognized traffic calming expert, as a Senior Transportation Engineer. Lockwood, formerly a transportation engineer with West Palm Beach, Florida, won the 1997 Past Presidents’...
“The advantages of the cul-de-sac over the through street are that they are quieter and safer for children; they provide the potential for more neighborly interaction; there is a greater sense of privacy; residents have a greater ability to...