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 Transit Metropolis: A Global Inquiry, by Robert Cervero, compiles case studies spanning five continents to investigate the roles of strategic planning, regulations, urban design, new technologies, and new approaches to government and...
The Collins Center for Public Policy recently formed the Smart Growth Center of Southern Florida to augment Eastward Ho!, a state growth control program that diverts growth in southern Florida from a westward direction, where it threatens the...
Developer Robert Shaw resigned from Post Properties in November, 1998. His new company is Amicus Partners. Shaw founded Columbus Realty Trust, a real estate investment trust that pioneered the construction of apartments in new urbanist infill...
The town center in King Farm, a 440-acre traditional neighborhood development in Rockville, Maryland, is scheduled to begin construction in the spring of 1999. The town center will include a 60,000 square foot grocery store, with an entrance facing...
David Peterson, Managing Director of PricewaterhouseCoopers, coined the phrase “mix, mass, and mesh” to describe characteristics of the “24-hour city” that constitute safe and affordable places to work, play, and reside. The top U.S. real estate...
A charrette was held in September, 1998, to design a new urbanist downtown for Macomb Township, the fastest growing community in the Detroit metropolitan region. The plan, by Gibbs Planning Group, features a township hall, a district court, possibly...
There is still time to submit case studies on the crime prevention and public safety benefits of the New Urbanism to Al Zelinka and Dean Brennan, who are working on a book for the American Planning Association’s Planners Press. The final deadline...
A 37,000 square foot grocery store is expected to open its doors in McKenzie Towne in Calgary, Alberta, before the end of the year. This may be the first sizable supermarket to open in a pedestrian-oriented town center of a traditional neighborhood...
CNU membership is continuing to grow and diversify. We are now about 1,100 strong. Participation by developers, citizen activists, transportation advocates, environmentalists, and elected officials is on the rise. If you are a member and receive a...
As Mayor Norquist said so eloquently at our recent Board meeting, “New Urbanism ought to be orthodoxy in five years.” While that may be an ambitious goal, I believe that we do have a responsibility, as a movement, to be more than just a fad — that’s...
The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) in Atlantic City, New Jersey, is scheduled to break ground by the end of 1998 on a 150-home redevelopment on three and a half city blocks. The homes, inspired by vernacular architecture, include...
Vince Graham has firsthand knowledge of the negative consequences of attempting a new urbanist development in a town without an ordinance specifically allowing such projects. When proposing I’On, a 243-acre traditional neighborhood development (TND...