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.
The U.S. Conference of Mayors recently released its third annual brownfields report in which 231 cities provided information on the status of industrial sites in their communities. The report estimates that the cities hold more than 21,000...
Since 1995, the City of Aspen, Colorado, has had a set of residential design standards for new construction intended to preserve the scale and character of established neighborhoods. Front facades of all principal structures must be parallel to the...
Morrison Homes, the nation’s 30th largest homebuilder with revenues of $518 million and 2,639 units built in 1999, is expanding its work in traditional neighborhood developments (TNDs). The company began working in Celebration three years ago and...
Recognizing that sprawl is probably the biggest local environmental issue in northern Georgia, the Georgia Conservancy has become one of the first environmental groups to become actively involved in land use planning.
Retail activity on the nation’s main streets continues its upward trend, according to a survey by the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Main Street Center. More than 400 communities in 36 states responded to the annual Main Street Trends...
Town commissioners in St. Michaels, Maryland, have turned down a second proposal from developers Gary Modjeska and George Valanos of The Midland Companies. The developers originally proposed Miles Point, a 375-unit TND, for the 89-acre site on the...
Belmont, North Carolina, was one of the first municipalities nationwide to have a traditional neighborhood development (TND) ordinance. Now it appears that the municipality may get its first TND. The $40 million project will convert a historic...
Zoning ordinances in Fort Collins, CO; Huntersville, NC; and Austin, TX; are case studies of approaches to changing municipal land use regulations. In response to encroaching sprawl, a small number of municipal planners and elected officials...
In Canada’s foremost laboratory for the New Urbanism, planners knit together many projects to create a ring of interconnected neighborhoods around the existing town. Markham was among the first municipalities in North America to adopt a new...
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...