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.
As of late 1998, only about 20,000 people live in new urbanist communities. The movement is still very young, yet strong anecdotal evidence suggests that the New Urbanism encourages social interaction to a far greater degree than conventional...
In Portland, Oregon, the Westside Max light rail line opened in September, 1998, and looks like a big success. Just two weeks after the 18-mile, $800 million line opened, light rail ridership in Portland was 22 percent above projections. Part of the...
The biggest redevelopment to date of a suburban shopping center into a mixed-use neighborhood may break ground in the spring of 1999 in San Jose, California. Federal Realty Investment Trust, based in Bethesda, Maryland, plans 1,200 residential units...
An Environmental Forum at the fall Board meeting of the Congress for the New Urbanism brought representatives of leading environmental groups together with CNU officials. The participants examined common interests and points of contention between...
CNU recently received funding from the Surdna Foundation to support efforts to mobilize a constituency of critical mass for new urbanist approaches to urban revitalization. Two key projects have been funded: the Implementation Task Force will look...
Vice President Al Gore has joined the ranks of many politicians, including both Republicans and Democrats, who are starting to recognize the benefits of traditional community design. In a speech to the Brookings Institution on September 2, Gore...
What does it take to get a traditional neighborhood development (TND) approved? The answer may be different in every municipality, but in Chesterton, Indiana, a favorable legal framework, educated municipal planners, and a determined developer all...
While the New Urbanism is still strongly discouraged by most subdivision and zoning ordinances, an increasing number of local jurisdictions are approving laws that allow mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented developments.
New Urban News and the Congress...
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...