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.
The Local Government Commission’s Center for Livable Communities in Sacramento, California recently published The Ahwahnee Principles for Smart Economic Development, a guidebook on economic development that presents 15 principles for integrating...
By Richard V. Francaviglia University of Iowa Press, Iowa City, Iowa, 1996. Softcover, 192 pp., $17.95 New Urbanists will enjoy this book for the clues it provides to the form, social value, and composition of main streets. Richard...
The proposed 136-unit Cityside residential development in Atlantic City will utilize Frank Lloyd Wright’s original American System-Built Homes as a design basis, making the project the first comprehensive development in the United States to use this...
Farr and Associates, a new urbanist architecture firm in Chicago, Illinois, has designed a new downtown for Swansea, Illinois called Swansea Town Center, which links the village with a MetroLink station to be built on the light-rail line connecting...
The American Institute of Architects recently created a Center for Livable Communities, which is directed by Stephanie Bothwell, a long-time new urbanist.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is looking at giving regulatory breaks to a downtown Atlanta development on the basis that the project will reduce long-term pollution compared to sprawling suburban construction. The redevelopment of the...
Town Planning Collaborative and HomeStyles Publishing and Marketing recently released the third volume in their groundbreaking TND Series, which provides plans for a variety of neotraditional building types — single family detached homes, both large...
Developers pursue their 12-year dream of building a town.
New urbanist (NU) developments, with their interconnected streets and mix of uses are unusual by conventional development standards. Even by NU standards, Mashpee Commons occupies a world...
Gaithersburg, Maryland recently adopted a Smart Growth Policy which expands on the Neighborhood Preservation and Smart Growth Initiative passed by the State of Maryland in 1997. The Policy establishes local guidelines for Smart Growth based on the...
Middleton Glen, a senior independent living facility, is slated for fall, 1999, completion in the 149-acre Middleton Hills traditional neighborhood development (TND) in Madison, Wisconsin. Essex Corporation, the developer of the three-storey, 55-...
An innovative public/private partnership between Bechtel Enterprises and local agencies in Portland, Oregon has been formed to build the $125 million, 5.5 mile light rail extension connecting downtown to the airport, scheduled for completion by 2001...
New grants fund projects by new urbanist designers.
A recent round of $507 million in grants confirms that the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is committed to revitalizing public housing using
new urbanist principles....