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.
On the subject of dysfunctional zoning: Karrie Hanson, a resident of the historic town of Westfield, New Jersey, reports that the town’s zoning regulations jeopardize porches. The problem is that zoning rules are based on the footprint of a house –...
Dave Mayfield, developer of Afton Village in Concord, North Carolina, and landscape architect Richard Burck visited cities across the Carolinas and Georgia to survey and measure porches and to discover what elements create the right balance between...
A new CNU report, still unreleased at press time, shows that the 350 to 600 dead and dying malls in the United States offer prime new urbanist redevelopment opportunities.
The report, co-written by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the Harvard...
ServMart, a Chicago area firm, has developed a retail concept that provides many services — e.g. dry cleaning, mail services, copying/faxing, video rental, photo processing, repairs, tailoring, flowers — in a single small location. The firm makes...
In New Castle County, Delaware, the proposed TND Whitehall is in development limbo after four years of extensive negotiations. Designed by Angelo Alberto, Whitehall would consist of three compact villages on 2,047 acres, with almost 5,000 dwelling...
After much controversy and a seven-month delay, Nelessen & Associates of Princeton, New Jersey, have completed a Visual Preference Survey in Worcester County on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The firm will draft a growth plan for the 300,000-acre...
Addison Circle, a high-density new urbanist development in Addison, Texas, continues to be highly successful. Developer Post Properties announced the complete lease up of phase 2 in April, 2000. Addison Circle now includes 1,070 apartments, 111,000...
The American Planning Association (APA) does not officially endorse the New Urbanism, but its recent awards have lauded new urbanist plans. Two examples this year are the Growing Smart award, which went to Palm Beach County, Florida, and the...
More than 25 projects are under construction or in planning across Canada. The following list briefly tracks progress in some of the most prominent communities.
Lakeside
Located in Ajax, Ontario, designed by the Planning Partnership, and...
A CNU task force initiative confronts fire officials’ aversion to narrow streets.
The dilemma is one familiar to most new urbanist designers and developers.
CNU 2000 in Portland, Oregon, draws a record crowd of 1,400.
Developers, public officials, representatives from nonprofit community development corporations and municipal planners came to Portland in large numbers and made the eighth annual...
England is feeling the effects of sprawl. According to the Danish architecture magazine Arkitekten, almost 70 percent of the youngest English school children walked to school in 1971 — now less than 10 percent do so. Fearful that English cities may...