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.
More than 775 people attended the Congress for the New Urbanism VI in Denver April 30 through May 3, an increase of 150 percent from last year. This growth in attendance caused a few uncomfortably crowded sessions, but also is a sign of the amazing...
Looney Ricks Kiss, a Memphis-based architecture firm, now has an office in Princeton, New Jersey, the result of a merger with Community Planning & Research. Looney Ricks Kiss, well-known for its neotraditional home designs in Harbor Town,...
Software from Criterion of Portland, Oregon, evaluates projects and neighborhoods for factors such as pedestrian orientation, transportation efficiency, affordability and resource efficiency. The New Urbanism inspired plan above scores better than...
St. Joe Corp., the largest landowner in Florida and headed by former Disney executive Peter Rummell, is gearing up to build traditional neighborhood developments (TNDs) on large tracts on the Florida Panhandle.
It seems that Rummell, who was in...
A 100-acre parcel that is the site of a planned neotraditional development called Spring Valley in Blacksburg, Virginia, is for sale at a price of $1.55 million, or $7,750 per lot. The project is reportedly approved and permitted, but Spring Valley...
Accessory apartments — i.e. units over garages, “granny flats,” carriage homes — represent a big question mark in traditional neighborhood developments (TNDs). Often they are permitted to accompany every single detached home, and so could raise...
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently announced its second round of Homeownership Zone grants, awarding $18 million to five cities. After state, local and private funds are factored in, financing for these projects...
Projects will test whether environmentally sensitive building practices are compatible with pedestrian-oriented, human-scale design.
ustainable development” in the U.S. often focuses on reduced environmental impact of buildings by cutting energy...
At their Winter Board Meeting in San Francisco the first week of February, the CNU Board made significant changes. New leadership for the organization (the Executive Committee) was chosen and two new Board positions were added.
After two years of...
Susan Mudd, Executive Director of Citizens for a Better Environment, a nonprofit advocacy organization based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, will serve as the new Chair of the Environmental Task Force. She will be working with both current and new task...
More than 72 percent of citizens in Windsor, California, voted to enact an urban growth boundary (UGB) in January. Windsor’s UGB secures a boundary for 20 years. During the last year an a half, UGBs have been adopted in the San Francisco Bay Area...
King Farm, a 440-acre, 3,200-unit traditional neighborhood development (TND) project in Rockville, Maryland, will open its model homes in May, 1998, and the first buyers will be moving in this summer. Like Celebration, Abacoa, and a few other large...