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.
Developer partners with the city on innovative program to weave affordable units throughout new neighborhood.
The Iowa City Housing Authority and one or more not-for-profit developers are looking to build 38 affordable housing units throughout...
In Austin, Texas, planners have created a score card system to determine if a development deserves financial support from the city.
Providing financial incentives in the form of reduced development fees and infrastructure construction is one of...
A new research center on the Florida Atlantic University (FAU) campus in the new urbanist community Abacoa in Jupiter, Florida, will be devoted to studying the physical and social effects of new urbanist design. FAU’s Joint Center for Environmental...
The ever-growing new urbanist movement brings in new voices for four days of intense discussion. What does it take to keep the momentum?
CNU 2000, “The Politics of Place,” drew a record 1,500 architects, planners, activists, government officials...
With patience, traditional craftsmanship, and a love for maximizing space, builder and developer Dan Camp has given new life to the dilapidated Cotton District neighborhood in Starkville, Mississippi.
The Cotton District rebirth beganwith one...
The Local Government Commission has published Streets and Sidewalks, People and Cars: The Citizens’ Guide to Traffic Calming, prepared by Dan Burden of Walkable Communities. The 52-page publication is a hands-on guide for residents who want to...
In a region where full-scale new urbanist neighborhoods are rare, town center revitalization projects are picking up steam.
Southern California is still lacking a good model for large traditional neighborhood development (TND). Playa Vista in Los...
Ridenour is one of the few large-scale developments planned in partnership with an environmental group. The goal was to “create a mixed-use community that would adhere to the principles of Georgia Conservancy’s ‘Blueprints for Successful Communities...
An obscure requirement of the 1997 Standard Building Code has temporarily stalled home construction in Longleaf, a TND in Odessa, Florida, reports developer Frank Starkey. Thirteen homes were already out of the ground when the local building...
Ground has been broken for the commercial town center in Park DuValle, the neighborhood in Louisville, Kentucky, built through the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Hope VI program. The 25,000- square-foot town center will include retail...
“New Hampshire needs to develop a New Urbanism,” states Republican gubernatorial candidate Jeff Howard in a position paper on sprawl. Howard’s platform includes calls for reassessing zoning codes, reusing vacant buildings, paying more attention to...
The Denver/Boulder region is rapidly emerging as the metropolitan area with the largest concentration of new urbanist communities.
Someone looking to move to a newurbanist community in the next few years could find an abundance of choices below...