New Urban News

New Urban News, a periodical that comes out 8 times a year (print+online), provides the news and intelligence necessary for you to become a better implementor of stronger, greener communities. New Urban News will become Better! Cities & Towns in January 2012. To view these premium articles in full, you must become a subscriber — SUBSCRIBE TODAY —  or download the current issue. Already a subscriber? Log in.

As money to build rail lines and transit-oriented development falls short, advocates search for new revenue sources.

Tue, Jan 31st 2012 8:32am

Bristol Rising in Connecticut is one of the most comprehensive small city redevelopment plans in the US.

Tue, Jan 31st 2012 9:40am

As communities seek to fix broken real estate economies, new building prototypes that can both repair damaged urban fabric and garner financing are needed.

Tue, Jan 31st 2012 10:40am

Vancouver, British Columbia, could eventually have up to 60,000 small dwellings along lanes — if people can afford $300 a square foot.

Tue, Jan 31st 2012 10:04am

What would cities be like if Americans started occupying remnants of the global shipping system?

Tue, Jan 31st 2012 9:56am

Review of Designing Healthy Communities, by Richard J. Jackson with Stacy Sinclair, Jossey-Bass, 2011, 261 pp., $50 hardcover.

Tue, Jan 31st 2012 10:48am

Henry Cisneros argues that new urbanist principles can be applied to infrastructure, resulting in new, smarter, more efficient and more environmentally responsible public facilities.

Tue, Jan 31st 2012 11:37am

As urban planners and architects, we are focused on “health, safety and welfare” — but our solutions have not always put human nature at the forefront.

Tue, Jan 31st 2012 9:59am

Installation of streetcars, and the use of special assessment districts to support them, have been inspired by the phenomenal success of the Portland Streetcar.

Tue, Jan 31st 2012 9:51am

Rental options will drive the early phases of residential construction as value is built for for-sale opportunities in the future.

Tue, Jan 31st 2012 9:46am

The agreement preserves funding for transit and the innovative TIGER grants program, while zeroing out high-speed rail

Thu, Dec 1st 2011 1:48pm

There’s tremendous capital waiting to be invested in urban real estate, but capital funds managers face a gap in experience and expertise.

1 Thu, Dec 1st 2011 10:30am

New York City’s Department of Transportation has carved 54 plazas out of streets and other areas. More are on the way.

Thu, Dec 1st 2011 9:57am

Yes, but don’t worry. New Urban News will continue under a new name.

Thu, Dec 1st 2011 9:56am

All 17 houses in the new Artists Village in East Haddam, Connecticut, will be completed by the end of this year.

Mon, Nov 28th 2011 3:35pm

McCamant and Durrett, architects based in Nevada City, California, have designed and developed more than 50 cohousing communities across the US.

Mon, Nov 28th 2011 3:23pm

A Mercer University initiative, with aid from the Knight Foundation, and a class trip to confer with Richard Florida result in “The Lofts at Mercer Village.”

Mon, Nov 28th 2011 2:42pm

In the 24 chapters of Making Healthy Places, some four dozen contributors offer information and advice on a wide variety of health and planning issues.

Mon, Nov 28th 2011 2:25pm

To create healthy places, America needs to groom leaders who combine techniques from planning and public health, a new book says.

Mon, Nov 28th 2011 2:18pm

Defenders of traditional architecture are pressing for a new interpretation of troublesome Interior Department standards.

Mon, Nov 28th 2011 2:06pm

Americans prefer smart growth to conventional suburbia by a 56 percent to 43 percent margin.

Mon, Nov 28th 2011 1:54pm

The $95 million Sustainable Communities planning grant program was a minuscule speck in the $3.7 trillion 2012 federal budget.

Mon, Nov 28th 2011 1:39pm

A new report from the Urban Institute urges planners and community leaders to include artists and art spaces in their community development strategies.

Wed, Oct 12th 2011 1:40pm

Sustainable Maryland Certified will assist communities in planning and implementing “green” practices, which may help them cope with tight budgets.

Wed, Oct 12th 2011 1:31pm

Progress on transit and transit-oriented development in many regions across the US is included in a new report from the Center for Transit-Oriented Development.

Wed, Oct 12th 2011 1:25pm

During the Institute of Transportation Engineers’ annual meeting, Heather Smith, program director for CNU, hailed the response that a CNU-ITE manual has generated.

Wed, Oct 12th 2011 1:19pm

The Al Aqaba charrette planned for new growth in a Palestinian village and designed a West Bank version of the “Katrina Cottage.”

Wed, Oct 12th 2011 1:12pm

The City Council of South Padre Island, Texas, adopted a redevelopment plan and form-based code for the 6-mile commercial corridor along Padre Boulevard.

Wed, Oct 12th 2011 12:48pm

Smart Growth America and Charlier & Associates are helping five rural communities to submit TIGER III grants on October 31.

Wed, Oct 12th 2011 12:21pm

Livability Solutions helps communities with problems such as outdated zoning codes and a lack of consensus on where and how to grow.

1 Wed, Oct 12th 2011 12:10pm

Three main principles; Beautiful Places, Defined Places and Anticipation of a Place, were used to build extra value out of typical suburban post-meltdown wreckage.

Wed, Oct 12th 2011 11:42am

A careful analysis of Schooner Bay in the Bahamas shows the financial and other benefits of taking a slower, culturally attuned, lower-debt approach to development.

Wed, Oct 12th 2011 10:53am

Bothell, Washington, adapts to current employment and living trends by redoing highways and making a walkable, mixed-use downtown.

Wed, Oct 12th 2011 9:56am

How does a gritty West Virginia town revitalize itself into a thriving, mixed-use, walkable community in a down economy? A week-long charrette and federal livability grants help figure it out. 

Tue, Oct 11th 2011 2:37pm

Transportation planner Patrick Siegman lays out three approaches to parking regulations in an attempt to move municipalities away from parking minimums.

Tue, Oct 11th 2011 2:16pm

An updated edition of Donald Shoup’s The High Cost of Free Parking tells how to introduce “performance parking” systems and other innovations.

Tue, Oct 11th 2011 1:45pm

Breathtakingly broad in scope, the Obama administration’s redevelopment plan tackles nearly every problem known to afflict city-dwellers.

Tue, Oct 11th 2011 12:44pm
Thu, Sep 22nd 2011 10:15am

A suburban employment center aims to evolve into a pedestrian-oriented place.

Thu, Sep 22nd 2011 9:43am
Thu, Sep 22nd 2011 9:32am
Thu, Sep 22nd 2011 9:25am

As Walk Score’s calculations gain sophistication, planners are using the system to determine where to put light-rail stations.

Wed, Sep 21st 2011 10:44am

Small families, rental apartments, and a right-sized central square are keys to development at Pleasant Hill in Contra Costa County, California.

Wed, Sep 21st 2011 10:30am

The “Incremental Sprawl Repair” project identifies methods for remaking road corridors when financing and transit are limited.

Wed, Sep 21st 2011 10:24am

Katrina Cottages, which were designed as alternatives to emergency trailers after Hurricane Katrina, are getting a second life in projects across the US.

Wed, Sep 21st 2011 10:22am

Financing for smart growth and TOD faces possible cutbacks as redevelopment agencies are caught in California budget battle.

Wed, Sep 21st 2011 10:17am

The funds are intended “to strengthen the arts while shaping the social, physical, and economic characters of their neighborhoods, towns, cities, and regions.”

Wed, Sep 21st 2011 10:10am

“Walmart Express” units of just 15,000 square feet are on the way — responding to Americans’ growing reluctance to drive long distances.

Wed, Sep 21st 2011 10:05am

Supermarkets are increasingly coming equipped with parking garages. Could “automated parking” be in the future?

1 Wed, Sep 21st 2011 9:48am

In 2008, when Walk Score’s first ranking of cities came out, San Francisco was number one. This year New York pushed the Golden Gate City into second place.

Wed, Sep 21st 2011 9:30am
Wed, Sep 21st 2011 9:11am

Norton Commons has been growing steadily throughout the economic downturn and is outperforming its surrounding neighborhoods.

Tue, Aug 9th 2011 12:43pm

What do you do when you have a strip of land 125 feet wide and a mere 15.25 feet deep?

1 Mon, Aug 8th 2011 10:00am

For the first time, Sarah Susanka, architect and best-selling author of the popular Not So Big House book series, has designed a house for a development.

Fri, Aug 5th 2011 10:36am

Oklahoma’s down-home Carlton Landing will feature an organic farm with “the nicest chicken coop this side of the Mississippi.”

Wed, Aug 3rd 2011 9:30am

Participants in CNU 19 question whether communities are doing enough, and whether bike lanes may worsen conditions for people on foot.

2 Tue, Aug 2nd 2011 12:30pm

An unusual financial arrangement will provide most of the $1.6 billion needed to redevelop Quincy Center with a design by the architect of Mizner Park.

1 Mon, Aug 1st 2011 9:03am

This year’s winners of the Driehaus Form-Based Codes Awards are the Development Code Rewrite of Livermore, California and the Compact Communities Code of Lee County, Florida.

Fri, Jul 29th 2011 11:31am

Elevated walkways are coming down and public spaces are being rethought as the business district tries to nurture downtown living.

1 Thu, Jun 16th 2011 8:01am

Vancouver, Canada, intends to fill much of a transit corridor from downtown to the airport with buildings mostly four to 12 stories high.

4 Tue, Jun 14th 2011 7:56am

Public health researcher Anne Lusk argues that installing bike routes separate from motor vehicles will boost cycling and make compact communities work better.

4 Tue, May 3rd 2011 7:14am

Every city has the capacity to make its own stuff, declares a Providence artist-developer.

Tue, Apr 26th 2011 7:53am

Smart growth proponents are fighting a state transit agency plan that would lease out dozens of parking facilities to private operators for 30 to 50 years.

Mon, Apr 25th 2011 7:45am

Fruitvale Village installs professional and community services in some ground-floor spaces, filling empty retail spots.

2 Wed, Mar 23rd 2011 6:54am

A study of Denver, Charlotte, and the Twin Cities finds housing booming near some stations while languishing in more difficult locations.

2 Tue, Mar 22nd 2011 6:32am

The $4 million in grants to 17 cities build on the HOPE VI program. Finalists for larger implementation grants were also announced.

Fri, Mar 18th 2011 10:12am

One development would place hundreds of apartments above a store, but other projects emphasize parking, not pedestrian-friendly streets. Chicago and New York also face Walmart campaigns.

1 Thu, Mar 17th 2011 8:09am

The strategic approach in Huntington Beach divides the corridors into three broad categories based on potential for change.

1 Wed, Mar 16th 2011 6:49am

In the real estate downturn since 2007, houses outside state's Priority Funding Areas declined in value faster than those inside the boundaries.

Fri, Mar 4th 2011 11:49pm

Transit-oriented development is the key to cutting energy consumption — even more so than Energy Star construction or green cars, according to a peer-reviewed study supported by EPA.

1 Tue, Mar 1st 2011 3:48pm

Demand for housing in accessible close-in suburbs will outstrip supply in the next few years, predicts Patrick L. Phillips.

Mon, Feb 14th 2011 12:57pm

An EPA study reveals that smart growth communities achieve higher sales prices and value per square foot.

Wed, Feb 9th 2011 7:01am

Each dollar used on transit was 75 percent more effective at putting people to work than a dollar used for highway work.

Fri, Feb 4th 2011 11:42am

Recognition programs help good projects gain approval, but occasionally some extra tweaking is in order.

Tue, Feb 1st 2011 10:37am

Planners brought in by the Haitian government propose a better urban environment than existed prior to the devastating earthquake.

5 Wed, Jan 26th 2011 1:44pm

Portland has created more than 300 miles of bicycle facilities. Among the most effective are “neighborhood greenways.”

Tue, Jan 25th 2011 10:04am

With many scratching to make a living in a badly damaged economy, coworking is springing up to meet the needs of independent workers.

Mon, Jan 24th 2011 9:42am

Using Baltimore as a case study, a UMass researcher finds that bicycle and pedestrian upgrades generate substantially more jobs than road repairs and improvements.

Sat, Jan 22nd 2011 9:24am

Now that the full-fledged LEED for Neighborhood Development program has been operating for several months, its rating system is being studied with an eye to making improvements.

Tue, Jan 18th 2011 9:10am

Youngstown, Ohio, needed to think smaller, but the strategy has helped only to a limited extent.

2 Wed, Jan 12th 2011 12:22pm

Urban Land Institute leaders respond to a recent American Public Transportation Association survey in which nearly two-thirds of adults said they would definitely or probably use high-speed rail for leisure or business travel if it were an option.

Thu, Jan 6th 2011 12:29pm

With few exceptions, America’s largest homebuilders are slower than companies in other fields to act on environmental concerns.

10 Tue, Jan 4th 2011 10:35am

Now comes data from Portland, Oregon, that suggests encouraging bicycle use leads to greater traffic safety in general.

2 Tue, Dec 21st 2010 7:10am

Ideas are being sought for improving LEED for Neighborhood Development and other LEED programs.

Thu, Dec 16th 2010 1:56pm

Maryland’s proposed system for curbing water pollution raises alarm among smart growth advocates.

Wed, Dec 8th 2010 8:26am

From a 100-foot-long section of Linden Street in San Francisco to the diminutive Palmer Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Americans are dipping their toes in the shared-space street movement timidly.

Tue, Dec 7th 2010 10:49am

Britain is energetically designing streets that intermingle foot and vehicular traffic; the US follows ever so cautiously.

Mon, Dec 6th 2010 7:56am

A ciclovia is either a permanently designated bicycle route or a temporary event, the closing of the street to automobiles for use by others.

Fri, Dec 3rd 2010 2:19pm

In late August the Commission celebrated completion of a new 75-foot clock tower adjoining the historic station on the eastern edge of downtown.

Mon, Nov 29th 2010 10:17am

New Yorkers are America’s greatest walkers, and increasing numbers pedal bikes, too, but not everyone is happy with the situation.

2 Thu, Nov 11th 2010 4:42pm

Connectivity, economic development, and zoning reform are also targeted, according to an in-depth analysis of TIGER and Sustainable Communities grants by Reconnecting America.

2 Thu, Nov 11th 2010 7:47am

Kenneth Groves, whose nine years as director of planning and development in Montgomery, Alabama, resulted in an overhaul of the city’s zoning and more urbane development downtown, died Sept. 28 after a brief struggle with cancer.

Tue, Nov 9th 2010 10:35am

Small, well-constructed dwellings — efficient to run but not necessarily cheap to build — point to more-compact living.

1 Sat, Nov 6th 2010 12:02am

The county board in Arlington, Virginia, unanimously approved a new "sector plan" that will enable Crystal City to continue to grow.

Fri, Nov 5th 2010 8:40am

Despite a sour economy, transit ballot measures scored 22 wins and eight losses in Tuesday’s voting across the US.

Wed, Nov 3rd 2010 1:28pm

Plan El Paso, led by Dover, Kohl & Partners, examines how transportation dollars and development can promote smart growth and great streets.

Wed, Nov 3rd 2010 8:37am

Lockers and other facilities for bicyclists are making it more convenient for bicyclists to pedal to and from transit stations.

Mon, Nov 1st 2010 7:45am

A parking lot is being converted to a civic space in the center of Camden. Next up is a “road diet” for a downtown thoroughfare.

Thu, Oct 28th 2010 12:43pm

A strategic framework breaks the city down into 11 kinds of neighborhoods, zones, or sectors, and recommends a different mix of techniques in each of them.

Tue, Oct 26th 2010 10:07am

Resources may be focused along a light-rail line and on downtown, Midtown, and the better-positioned neighborhoods.

Tue, Oct 26th 2010 9:47am

Target Field, the $545 million new home of the Minnesota Twins, may just possibly be the death knell for retro-style ballparks.

1 Fri, Oct 22nd 2010 9:54am

North Little Rock, Arkansas, has begun implementing a plan for construction of 1,400 apartments, condominium units, and detached houses, establishment of a farmers’ market, and other improvements in its downtown.

Mon, Oct 18th 2010 10:25am

A complex with a 29,000 sq. ft. supermarket on its second level defies the depression in commercial real estate.

Thu, Oct 14th 2010 10:32am

A new report, "Driven Apart," argues that the Texas Transportation Institute has overlooked the benefits of more compact development.

Thu, Sep 30th 2010 6:59am

The findings could give encouragement to policy-makers who seek to promote compact, walkable neighborhoods for sustainability reasons, the authors write.

Tue, Sep 28th 2010 9:40am

LeylandAlliance has signed an agreement with Educational Realty Trust that should lead to development of a town center next to the University of Connecticut.

Tue, Sep 21st 2010 12:15pm

Bay Area communities look at how to shift from the industrial era to an atmosphere that appeals to “millennials.”

Fri, Sep 17th 2010 8:19am

New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu should demand significant changes in the design of a successor to Charity Hospital, consultant David Dixon told city officials in August.

Thu, Sep 16th 2010 8:11am

The City Council in Rohnert Park, California, voted approval August 24 for the transformation of a 175-acre light industrial business park into a new urban community that promises to be one of the “greenest” in the US.

Wed, Sep 15th 2010 11:19am

Studies in Florida and North Carolina show that dense urban development pays off for local governments. Big-box retail doesn’t.

4 Mon, Sep 13th 2010 4:41pm

Dublin, prosperous but worried, looks toward denser, more walkable development to thrive in the knowledge economy.

Fri, Sep 10th 2010 9:06am

Having failed last February to win $298 million in federal stimulus funds for a 9.7-mile streetcar system, the City of Atlanta and the Georgia Transit Connector initiative asked this August for $52 million for a line considerably shorter: 2.6 miles.

Fri, Sep 10th 2010 8:54am

A new report prepared by Calthorpe Associates is described as "the state's first major planning document in almost 30 years."

Tue, Sep 7th 2010 8:47am

The Smart Growth Public Policy Infrastructure Policy Act, which aims to spend more of the New York State’s tax money on infrastructure in compact communities and less of it in sprawling locations, was signed into law at 8 PM Aug. 30 by Gov. David Paterson.

Tue, Aug 31st 2010 5:25pm

A new book, Inclusive Housing, explains how to build in ways that reflect New Urbanism while meeting the needs of disabled people.

Thu, Aug 26th 2010 1:10pm

Thirteen new urban and smart growth developments were named as Catalyst Projects on August 24 by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).

Wed, Aug 25th 2010 12:10pm

The federal HOPE VI program will disburse $124 million for five or six public housing redevelopment projects in the coming fiscal year, officials of the US Department of Housing & Urban Development announced today.

Wed, Aug 25th 2010 12:08pm

How can communities get more people onto bicycles, and yet make sure that the space for biking doesn’t undercut good urban design?

Thu, Aug 19th 2010 1:55pm

The City of Bristol, Connecticut, home to sports broadcaster ESPN, is teaming up with Renaissance Downtowns of Plainview, New York, to redevelop Bristol’s central business district.

Fri, Aug 13th 2010 11:00am

Downtown Ventura, California, has its first new Class A office building since the 1920s, and it’s a beauty.

Thu, Aug 12th 2010 1:20pm

Dr. Andrew Dannenberg and his co-authors describe the health impact assessment (HIA) as “a tool to help planners and other decision-makers better recognize the health consequences of the decisions they make.”

Tue, Aug 10th 2010 3:04pm

Louisiana demolition plan contrasts sharply with new urbanist charrettes sponsored by a hospital system in Richmond, Virginia.

Mon, Aug 9th 2010 11:41am

Washington, DC-based planning consultant Jeff Speck moved himself, his wife, and their 21-month-old son to Lowell, Massachusetts this April for what he calls a “slow charrette” — a full month of working on a plan for Lowell’s future development while living in a converted mill downtown.

Fri, Aug 6th 2010 1:22pm

Dr. John M. MacDonald, a criminology professor and behavioral scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, wanted to know whether switching from driving to riding mass transit would help people lose weight. To find out, he surveyed Charlotte, North Carolina, residents who had become regular users of that city’s nearly three-year-old Lynx light-rail line.

Thu, Aug 5th 2010 12:42pm

Arterial roads — especially those with heavy traffic volumes, high speeds, and strip commercial development such as big-box stores — are undermining Americans’ safety. The extent of the danger was investigated recently by Eric Dumbaugh and Wenhao Li of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at Texas A&M.

Thu, Aug 5th 2010 12:22pm

Seven years after they were first proposed, 47 sometimes controversial affordable dwelling units are nearing completion in Barrington, Rhode Island, a well-heeled town about 10 miles south of Providence.

Wed, Aug 4th 2010 5:12pm

As national real estate sales slow, demographic and preference trends make smart growth and New Urbanism a good bet.

Sat, Mar 31st 2007 11:00pm
Schooner Bay home

Schooner Bay home looks across the restored dune to the sea. Courtesy of Steve Mouzon

Books + reviews

Review of The Very Hungry City: Urban Energy Efficiency and the Economic Fate of Cities, by Austin Troy, Yale University Press, 2012, 384 pp., $28 hardcover

Review of Intelligent Cities, edited by Susan C. Piedmont-Palladino, National Building Museum, 2011, 120 pp., $25 paperbound.