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.
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...
The National Association of Realtors, 700,000 strong, has created a smart growth initiative. The Washington, D.C., based group hired Joe Molinaro, longtime editor of the National Association of Home Builders’ Land Development magazine, to lead the...
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...
A firsthand look at the development and building of a sustainable community can be found in the new book Designing Sustainable Communities: Learning from Village Homes by Judy and Michael Corbett. The book focuses on the authors’ innovative 1970s...
On the northeastern edge of Columbus, Ohio’s fastest growing metropolitan area, the new town of Easton is taking shape. While this 1,200-acre planned, mixed-use community is dominated by office buildings, parking lots, and a conventional strip mall...
Frijoles Village, a traditional neighborhood development in Santa Fe, New Mexico, is now called Aldea. More importantly, an equity investor, FCA/Holly Mortgage of Houston, has been found for the project.
Modular housing designs by Frank Lloyd Wright which have not been built in 80 years are getting a renaissance in Washington Square, a housing development which broke ground in February in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The design of Wright’s American...
Architect Daniel Parolek of Envision Design in Berkeley, California, has designed the winning entry in the New Growth Area category of the international competition Housing the Next Ten Million.
After a search of a year and a half,Iowa City has selected a development team for the Peninsula neighborhood. The purchase price for the 70-acre site, of which only about 40 acres is developable, is approximately $1.3 million. The neighborhood,...