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.
CNU’s Board of Directors is reaching out to leaders of environmental organizations. At their Board meeting in October, they’ll be meeting with representatives of national and regional environmental advocacy groups. The aim is to initiate a two-way...
The Wealth of Cities, Revitalizing the Centers of American Life By John O. Norquist Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts, 1998. Hardcover, 227 pp., $25.00 U.S.; $34.95 Canada. Milwaukee Mayor John O. Norquist has produced a treatise for...
“An argument can be made that the new towns contribute to the further dispersion and deterioration of the core.” —Architect Harvey Gantt (May, 1998)
“Instead of focusing all of our energies on building new neotraditional towns, we should...
The U.S. Department of Housing and Development (HUD) will not pay 100 percent of future Hope 6 projects, according to Elinor Bacon, deputy assistant secretary. HUD has been concerned about the cost of Hope 6, which is producing some of the most...
The NationsBank Gateway Village project is breaking ground in the uptown section of Charlotte, North Carolina. The 16-acre, seven-phase project eventually will include 1.2 million square feet of offices, 450 rental and townhouse units, and street-...
The lunch meeting, attended by more than 500 people, brought
both a clash of philosophies and a realization that the two groups share common interests. The ULI’s spring conference was held in Denver the same week as CNU VI, which created the...
Editor’s note: This is the second of a two-part series dealing with cutting costs in building a traditional neighborhood development (TND). The first, which appeared in the May/June 1998 issue, dealt with home construction issues. This article...
Recent articles in two major dailies, the Seattle Times (April 4 and 11) and the Chicago Tribune (June 20), show that the mainstream press is becoming more sophisticated about the New Urbanism. Both articles were prompted by new urbanist...
The New Urbanism is having a significant impact on production home building in North America, but much of that impact is superficial — phony marketing of “community” and attempts to create a traditional “look” with architectural clutter, for example...
A group of developers — several of whom are leading members of the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) — agreed May 20 to incorporate a new trade group for new urbanist developers. The National Town Builders Association (NTBA) will serve a purpose...
Jefferson County, Kentucky, approved a Planned Village Development (PVD) District ordinance in late April, 1998, which applies to unincorporated areas surrounding the City of Louisville. The PVD is similar to many traditional neighborhood...
Construction began in May on 1,500-acre Austin Ranch, the latest in a series of projects in or near Dallas, Texas, using new urbanist principles. The master plan for the 5,000 home project was designed by RTKL and the first neighborhood, called...