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.
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...
Location Efficient Mortgages (LEM) are now an option for prospective home buyers in Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. LEMs are primarily targeted at low- to middle-income households in dense, urban areas where public transit is...
A recent Washington Post article reported on a “new crusade” for pedestrian safety. “It is a small but growing uprising against the excesses of the nation’s car culture,” reports the Post, which cites grass roots programs in a half dozen cities...
Changing Direction, a study by the Surface Transportation Policy Project (STTP), presents both good and bad news about the direction of federal transportation spending in the 1990s. On the positive side, the study says funding increased for repair...
The downtown of Celebration a neotraditional town in Osceola County, Florida, is still going through some growing pains. Although many of the businesses — particularly restaurants — have been successful, about a half dozen have failed, the...
CNU will collaborate with local and federal agencies on the redevelopment of Washington, D.C.’s, underused southern shore.
Between the Southeast Freeway and the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C., five short blocks from the U.S. Capitol, is a...
The City of Clearwater near Tampa, Florida, has selected a team of new urbanist developers to head the redevelopment of the city’s downtown. George de Guardiola and Bruce A. Rendina, developers of Abacoa Town Center in Jupiter, Florida, have joined...
Editor’s note: Vince Graham and Robert Turner were interviewed separately. The following are quotes from those interviews on the subject of building human-scale communities.
On the New Urbanism/TND
Vince Graham: “We believe in TND, and we’re...