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.
New Urbanist philosopher Leon Krier’s new book, Choice or Fate, critiques the architectural excesses of Modernism and presents a workable countervision in the form of graphical plans for the restoration of several European city centers, a design for...
Governing Magazine’s 1998 Public Officials of the Year awards include two mayors who are dedicated proponents of the New Urbanism, John O. Norquist of Milwaukee and Nancy M. Graham of West Palm Beach.
Norquist, a Congress for the New Urbanism...
A unique partnership was formed between Orlando developer Lake Nona Property Holdings, a public school district and a local YMCA. Lake Nona Property Holdings recently broke ground on a 1,000-acre neotraditional development called Northlake Park. Due...
CHK Architects and Planners, located in Silver Spring, MD, has changed its name to Torti Gallas and Partners/CHK. Principals John Torti, AIA, and Thomas Gallas, CPA, have guided the firm since 1993 in its transition to new urbanist planning and...
Movie theaters increasingly are part of new urbanist commercial centers. The first to be built was a two screen theater in downtown Celebration, near Orlando, in 1996. In 1997, a multiplex cinema opened in Redmond Town Center in Redmond, Washington...
Milwaukee is proving the principles of the New Urbanism in a tough real estate market — a rust belt city. The lessons can apply to other cities, towns, and even suburbs.
Housing construction in Milwaukee increased by about 80 percent in 1998,...
Northwest Landing, a traditional neighborhood development near Tacoma, Washington, is outdistancing its competitors by a long margin. From January to September, 101 homes were sold in the project, compared to 58 in Russellwood, the next best selling...
Residents of Kentlands, the Gaithersburg, Maryland, TND, took control of their destiny with regards to Midtown, the town center. The developer, Guy Beatty, wanted to build a 180,000 square foot Target superstore — claiming that a smaller, pedestrian...
CNU’s Task Forces have taken an active role this year planning our annual Congress. CNU VII: The Wealth of Cities will be held in Milwaukee, June 3-6, 1999. The Task Force Chairs are meeting in San Francisco this month to help cull through the many...
Federal money finally came through to begin construction of Del Paso Nuevo, a 150-acre new urbanist neighborhood in Sacramento, California. Designed by Jeff Townsend of Vail Engineering, Del Paso Nuevo was one of the first Homeownership Zones...
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) responded quickly to two recent attacks on sprawl, one by Vice President Al Gore and the other by the Sierra Club (both are reported in this issue of New Urban News). Perceiving that its industry is...
The Pritzker Prize, “the Nobel of architecture,” is generally a glorification of modern architectural achievements. This year, at a White House presentation of the prize, the nation’s architectural elite was treated to an overview of what went wrong...