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.
The US EPA recognized five projects in New York City, Baltimore, Portland (Oregon), the coast of Maine, and San Francisco with its annual Smart Growth Achievement awards.
Urban design standards for low-carbon communities were created and tested on a new city plan.
“Urbanism is the most cost-effective solution to climate change,” says Peter Calthorpe in his new book.
A three-year Gallup study of 26 US cities has found that peoples’ love and passion for their community may be a leading indicator for local economic growth.
In late August the Commission celebrated completion of a new 75-foot clock tower adjoining the historic station on the eastern edge of downtown.
Taking The Wheel, a report by a coalition of “fiscal conservatives” and national security experts calls for measures to cut oil dependence and liquid fuels consumption in the transportation sector.
Beall's Hill neighborhood in Macon, Georgia, where a volunteer charrette initiated a revitalization, benefits from the nation's largest revolving revitalization fund.
Update: Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company was selected to design the town center in Mandeville, Louisiana.
The recently approved urban design program appears to focus on practical issues such as how to make communities more appealing to pedestrians and remake the sprawling suburbs.
Architects and a developer are working to design and build a culinary school, affordable Katrina cottages, and an urban farm on a parcel a couple of miles from downtown Jacksonville, for an extraordinary and inspiring homeless shelter.
SF Public Press aggressively covers both sides of the debate over the Redwood City Saltworks development proposal. Update.
Connectivity, economic development, and zoning reform are also targeted, according to an in-depth analysis of TIGER and Sustainable Communities grants by Reconnecting America.