Building Better: A Guide to America’s Best New Development Projects

Much of the development in the United States today is sprawling, low-density, car-dependent “bigbox” or “strip-mall” construction, according to the Sierra Club. In selecting America’s best new development, the Sierra Club considered a wide range of projects, from cities large and small, to suburbs, to small towns in each corner of the nation. The winners cover economically challenged areas like Fruitvale in Oakland and Highland Park in Milwaukee, as well as well-off areas like Manchester-by-the-Sea, Mass. The report also includes massive projects like Atlantic Station in Atlanta, which encompasses 138 acres and includes 12 million square feet of retail, office, residential and hotel, and by contrast, smaller scale projects like 66 residential homes and an industrial building in Hopkins, Minn.