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.
Voters in Clearwater, Florida, rejected (58 percent to 42 percent) a plan to revitalize their downtown using new urbanist principles. The $300 million project by developer George de Guardiola would have brought 320,000 square feet of retail, a 250-...
The Regional City, a new book from Peter Calthorpe, will be in book stores in October. The book is co-authored by William Fulton, president of the Ventura, California, Solimar Research Group and editor of the newsletter California Planning and...
Prospect, a traditional neighborhood development in Longmont, Colorado, has opened its first commercial building. The 10,500-square-foot building is fully leased and houses a post office, several professional offices, and a cafe. In addition to...
One of the fastest growing municipalities in Arizona, Prescott Valley has changed from entirely rural to suburban in the last two decades, and has never had a downtown. Now, public officials in Prescott Valley are following a nationwide trend to...
Builders in Cherry Hill Village, Canton Township, Michigan, were prepared to use vinyl siding throughout most of their 350-acre traditional neighborhood development. Architectural codes were drafted by designer Looney Ricks Kiss governing the use...
The website will have New Urbanism resources and portals to other sites.
Avirtual city has been proposed to promote New Urbanism (NU) via the Internet. The suggested name is Izbal, after a mythical Mayan city (this name is not final, and there...
Homebuilders: Americans want it that way.
In its new report, Sprawl Costs Us All: How Your Taxes Fuel Suburban Sprawl, the Sierra Club suggests that it is not just the environment that is hurt by current development practices; American taxpayers...
In Portland, Oregon, construction is well underway on a new streetcar line connecting neighborhoods to downtown. The approximately five miles of tracks in the first phase are laid on streets 36 feet wide curb to curb, with parking on both sides....
For a conservative spin on the smart growth debate, turn to A Guide to Smart Growth: Shattering Myths, Providing Solutions, published by the Heritage Foundation. The book explores how the growing concerns about urban sprawl among voters can be...
Two recent appointments have placed advocates of the New Urbanism in prominent planning jobs. Harriet Tregoning, director of urban and economic development at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been picked by Maryland Governor Parris...
A 700-acre new urbanist town center plan for the City of Wildwood, Missouri, was approved, and now has the backing of the majority of residents, according to city planner Joe Vujnich. Zoning has not been approved to support the plan. However, given...
In the first test of its regional outreach program, CNU lends technical expertise and builds consensus on recharging an urban neighborhood.
In late May, CNU's Regional Partnerships program kicked
off with a three-day workshop developing a...