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.
Envision Utah, a public/private grassroots coalition, recently conducted a survey with Utah residents to determine their preferences for future growth and development in the state. A significant majority of the 17,000 respondents chose the two...
A lot is being written these days about the renewal of cities. Surely, considerable new construction is visible in many places. Surely, the number of tourists, commuters and daily visitors is up, along with the national economy. And surely, the...
The 1999 Ahwahnee Awards will be presented November 17-19, 1999, at the National Smart Growth Conference in San Diego, California. The award recognizes projects’ overall quality, community participation, and use of the Ahwahnee Principles, a...
The Town of Huntersville, North Carolina recently chose Bowman Development Group, the developer of nearby Vermillion, to redevelop a 32-acre former mill site situated along the planned rapid transit corridor linking the town to Charlotte. A...
A 60-acre high-tech “eco-industrial park” is planned adjacent to the village center in San Christobol Village, a 1,818-acre TND in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The project is being developed in a new community growth district by the State Land Office and...
Suffolk, Virginia, planners developed an ordinance that uses “incentive zoning” to apply new urbanist planning and design principles, according to a recent editorial in The Virginian-Pilot. The city’s rapid growth and increasing residential land...
The Conservation Law Foundation recently issued City Routes,City Rights, an 80-page guidebook for urban grassroots activists, educators, and local policymakers concerned with improving transportation and environmental quality in urban areas. The...
Joseph Barnes, former town architect at Disney’s Celebration, was hired as vice president and general manager overseeing day-to-day operations at I’On, a 243-acre traditional neighborhood development (TND) in Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. Barnes was...
The popular event featured case studies from production builders and presentations of practical techniques for new urbanist projects. The main-stream development community poured into Chicago April 7 through 9 and showed its interest in learning...
The Richmond Better Housing Coalition opened the first phase of Winchester Greens, an 84-acre new urbanist development built for moderate income residents. The first 100 townhomes are renting for $475 to $620, according to T.K. Samanath of the...
Civano, a 1,145-acre traditional neighborhood development (TND) in Tuscon, Arizona, opened its first 15 homes on April 16, 1999, clustered around the first neighborhood center. The developer, Community of Civano LLC, will have offices and subsidize...
Correction In the March/April 99 issue, the table of Canadian new urbanist projects incorrectly listed the master planner for the Berczy project, which is Page & Steel, with planning assistance from Macaulay Shiomi Howson Ltd.