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.
In Pittsburgh, a public/private partnership is transforming an unusual brownfield site into the city’s largest new residential development in more than 50 years.
Building neighborhoods on abandoned industrial sites is no longer a novelty, but...
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...
Brad Shapiro, an architect with Looney Ricks Kiss of Memphis for the past 12 years, has formed his own firm, Shapiro & Company Architects also based in Memphis. The firm’s emphasis will be on TND architecture. Shapiro’s work includes designs for...
The US Department of Housing and Urban Development has chosen CNU to run an award program, “The New Face of America's Public Housing.” It will recognize HOPE VI projects that best demonstrate innovation and leadership in the transformation of...
For the first time, new urbanist principles may be applied to the redevelopment of housing in an active military base. The plan is to convert 1950s and 1960s style housing in Fort Lewis in Washington State to a compact, mixed-use neighborhood with...
Las Colinas, a well-known edge city outside of Dallas, recently hired new urbanist planner Andres Duany to design approximately 600 acres on the northeast end of the city. The site, stretching from the city’s east side to the LBJ Freeway, is one of...
The City Council in Redwood City, California, has approved a plan for revitalizing its downtown. The design by Field Paoli Architects of San Francisco proposes two new structures, covering two city blocks, that will house 80,000 square feet of...
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.
CityPlace, a 72-acre, $550 million development in downtown West Palm Beach, Florida, opened October 26th and is already bustling with activity. The project includes 600,000 square feet of retail space, with a mixture of national, regional, and local...
New Urbanism did have one success at the ballots. Voters in Westlake, Ohio, approved Crocker Park, a 75-acre mixed-use development proposed by Stark Enterprises and designed by Streetworks of Alexandria, Virginia (see October/November 2000).