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.
Harriet Tregoning, director of urban and economic development at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, reports that 94 to 95 percent of development in the U.S. is on “greenfield,”or undeveloped, sites. Even with a tenfold increase in infill (a...
PrimRose Beach, a planned 75-acre traditional neighborhood development (TND) in Corolla, North Carolina, is similar in its beach location, radial grid pattern of streets and scale of blocks and lots to Seaside, Florida, the first modern-day TND....
At the ULI/CNU meeting, opening statements were made by CNU Boardchairman and Seaside developer Robert Davis on the state of development patterns in the the U.S. Here are excerpts:
For five millennia, we have built towns and cities with strong...
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...
“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...
After probably the most extensive public process ever to initiate a new urbanist development, the City of Orlando selected Orlando Partners to redevelop the 1,100-acre Orlando Naval Training Center (ONTC).
Orlando Partners, led by Mesirow Stein...
A charrette was held in May, 1998, to design Miles Point, an 89-acre traditional neighborhood development (TND) in St. Michael’s, Maryland. Representatives of the developer, the Midland Companies of Washington, D.C., and the design firm, Duany...