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.
Jobs Fishing Road This 22.6-acre village abutting the south of Mashpee Commons’ downtown represents a continuation of the commercial development, but it will be slightly less urban in character. Plans call for 37,500 square feet of retail space...
The City of North Richland Hills, Texas, approved a 330 acre new town center, to be developed by Arcadia Realty Corp. of Dallas and designed by Duany Plater-Zyberk and Company. Projected to have a $628 million value in 10 years, the project is...
St. Joe Corporation, the largest private landowner in Florida, recently presented concept plans at Seaside’s Town Hall for their proposed 495-acre neotraditional development The Villages at Seagrove. The 1,237-unit development connects directly to...
Rosemary Beach, a traditional neighborhood development (TND) under construction in South Walton County, Florida, has received a strong sales response to the six live/work sites recently placed on the market. Buyers have committed to purchase five of...
n The Design Center for American Urban Landscape at the University of Minnesota hosted a conference from January 21-23 on “Reframing the 1945-1965 Suburb.” Many CNU members participated in the discussions which examined the social, physical,...
A Florida agency sets an example for government planners that want to foster the New Urbanism.
Some 500 regional planning organizations operate in the United States. Up until 10 years ago, the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council...
Roberta Brandes Gratz and Norman Mintz have written an excellent report on how cities and towns are coming back to life in Cities Back from the Edge. Published by Preservation Press, the book focuses on trends like suburban sprawl that have...
The largest supermarket chain in the country, Kroger, used new urbanist designs by Gibbs Planning Group to gain city approval for its new 55,000 square foot “village model” store in Birmingham, Michigan. The city, which has adopted new urbanist...
In Bois-Franc, a neotraditional town under construction in the City of St. Laurent, Quebec, developer Bombardier Real Estate has come up with a unique solution for garage entry. Many of the residential blocks in the 8,000-unit project consist of...
As the New Urbanism gains in popularity, new urbanist “catchwords” are being used by more conventional developers to market their projects. One such development, described “neotraditional” in a newspaper article, consists of luxury homes on one-acre...
annual congress
An ambitious agenda includes the exploration of ways to promote and sustain an urban renaissance in the 21st Century.
This year the Congress for the New Urbanism will convene its seventh annual conference, CNU VII:...
It was good to hear the Clinton administration weigh in on the sprawl issue, unveiling a “Livability Agenda.” Vice President Al Gore outlined the proposal in early January, which includes a host of initiatives.
These include: tax credits of $700...