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What happens to the ribbon of land being created by the depression of the Central Artery may be the most important development decision to face Boston in a generation.
A national panel of experts in governance, landscape architecture, and design offers recommendations on designing, building, and operating the Rose Kennedy Greenway. | Go
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A pair of public forums dubbed "Community Conversations" resulted in dozens of innovative ideas for the Rose Kennedy Greenway. Check out stories, photos, and the ideas themselves. | Go |
The Central Artery land weaves nearly continuously from Chinatown to North Station, but its two dozen individual parcels differ considerably in character and potential use. Here's a look. | Go |
Boston is unique, but the issues involved in reclaiming Central Artery land are not. A series of MIT case studies looks at lessons from similar projects around the world. | Go |
The first shots in the war over Central Artery land were fired in the 1980s. Where did the time go? | Go|
Read the thoughts of key local players and some of the nation's leading experts on public policy and urban design. | Go
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welcome your feedback. Click here to contact us.
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Creative Community Conversations
Forums will help shape Boston's future landscape
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On April 14, more than 230 people took part in the first of two public forums about the future of the Central Artery land. They were divided into small groups and asked to dream about what the parks could be. These scenarios were the result.
This information was provided by The Boston Foundation and the Boston Society of Architects, which co-sponsored the event.
SCENARIO 1:
Something for Everyone -- Day and Night
 Something for everyone -- daily workers, kids, families, visitors -- day and night:
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Recreation for kids
Flowers: growing flowers and grass, as well as having flower vendors
Inspiring sculpture and modern art
Benches, at least 2-3 fountains, curved and covered pathways
Vendors along sidewalks, food kiosks
Bathrooms, security
Quiet area, raised sides
Great, cool night lighting as on the Zakim bridge
Performance area with raised sides
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Development on parcels responsive to adjacent uses: Example: Quincy Market is busy and active, so design Parcel 14 as a respite from Quincy Market, but connected to it, with a pond and skating in winter.
Parcel 17B -- Underground museum of New England Antiquities
Daily buses for access, strong sense of safety
SCENARIO 2:
Ability to Knit
The group focused on parcels in the North End and Wharf District and the concept of time
Land to 'knit' city back together
Vision of edges as critically important to the parks, the idea of the park is extended out to the building edge
Pieces are placed according to issues of light and the time of day
Treatment of parcels is based on who visits the parks and when
Parks remain open till midnight
They offer places for a diversity of people:
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Watching kids play
Revolving exhibits
Places for exercise
Concerts
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SCENARIO 3:
A Day of Tranquility in the City
Focus was on times of the day -- weekdays and weekends (though the group ran out of time before discusing weekends). Early AM: walkers, joggers, elderly. Lunch time: office workers and tourists. Evening: For all
Green, open space, providing calm and respite from urban hustle and bustle
Walking areas with benches, trees
Well-lit, safe spaces with public art
Revisit parcels 12 & 13 as potential open space
No tourist buses, Traffic: transit bus and more resident parking
Local residents are at the table
SCENARIO 4:
Reunion Park
With the aim of knitting the North End and Downtown back together and creating a destination spot, this group proposed:
Parks, historic uses, a cultural center, music, artists display
Locally owned and operated multi-use facility with outdoor amphitheater and a major water feature
Low building with a dance hall -- no hard building lines
Trolley, "petty cabs"
Lots of detail and texture -- creating elements of surprise! Ideas of inscribed bricks, smaller gardens for seniors or kids and schools
Book vendors -- lots of book browsing opportunities
Open space between buildings and park, with curving streets to slow down traffic
SCENARIO 5:
Emerald Bracelet (or Moose Pasture!)
Injecting fun and playfulness into the day, the group suggested, in the absence of clear consensus, the development of a unique element -- a moose pasture, with moose trucked into Boston every day. To ensure safety, the group decided that it would not allow elements such as snowmobiles and crossbows. Members proceeded to define an interesting journey through the City's open spaces by creating connections to surrounding communities.
Starting out at the Forest Grove and the water feature, exploring Boston's history -- taking the Silver Line from the neighborhoods to the ICA on Fan Pier -- to the Harbor Islands and arriving at the Greenway.
Visiting Mass Horticultural society's botanical gardens, watching kids, fountains, sculptures, mimes
Band playing hip-hop/jazz in an amphitheater
People sitting and watching, strolling
Bathrooms, visitor center
The park is seen as non-linear with central-perpendicular/cross street-connections as being important
SCENARIO 6:
People's Park
This group focused on the connection between people and the sea. It saw the parks as linking to the Harborwalk, as a system of open spaces with a sense of history, sense of maintenance. Ideas they generated ranged from:
History tie-in -- Boston's historic relationship to the water
Maintaining a high quality of design and maintenance
Take risks of bold public art ideas to engender civic pride
Using light as an element
Creating places for people to come together
SCENARIO 7:
A group divided
Table participants broke into two groups, emerging with very different ideas:
Connections -- "Heal Me"
"Remove the scar" with buildings
"Focus on harbor" building parks as crossing spaces
Create many spaces rather than one long space
Winter
Footloose, ice walk, safe way
Activities, fun: frozen pathway, dance pavilions, sculptures, cafes, etc.
Focus on people, art, water features, and create an element of surprise
SCENARIO 8:
Gateways
The group focused on two sections of the Artery: North End and the Wharf District:
North End
Converted Haymarket
Large covered market with rollback roof
Connections to Salem Street
Connect North End to Haymarket
Space for seasonal outdoor cafés, plaza, green -- with incentives to North End businesses to extend outwards
Wharf -- Pavilions in the Park
Series of parks -- 4 parks with 4 pavilions
Thematic, like Freedom Trail
Connection to waterfront
Like the Ringstrasse in Vienna
"Pavilions in the Park," each themed, for example history
SCENARIO 9:
North End
Focusing on a distinct aspect of the Artery, this group proposed the concept of inviting, welcoming, healing, clean spaces that influence how people act.
Greenspace Hills with plenty of greenery and water features/fountains using recycled water
Extending Commercial Street corridor to connect with parks
Active spaces -- sloping landscapes for kids
Densely green
Tunnels covered with sculptured landscape
Monitored and secured with no traffic conflicts
Access to bathrooms
SCENARIO 10:
Playing 'Hookey' in the Artery
Once again the idea of the Artery parks brought out the idea of playfulness and the possibilities of a fun filled day when you skip work and are drawn to the Artery. Their ideas include:
Meeting points/landmarks/café's "Meet me at the…"
People watching, people performing
Public art
Dinner in North End, Chinatown
Gardens
Sports, bike paths, easy movement of bikes using 'bridges'
Connections to the North End
SCENARIO 11:
Boulevards to Nowhere
The group focused on creating much needed connections and destinations, with the following ideas:
Place for food and stuff, covered daily market on Mass Horticulture site
Flea market, pavilions and push carts
Good maintenance and security
Trees and flowers -- with flowers as a distinctive feature
Chinatown parcel -- broad, green open space connecting Chinatown and the Leather district
Chinese garden right off the Chinatown Arch
SCENARIO 12:
North End -- Blackstone Scenario
Building on the theme of people and places and the historic Blackstone area, this group offered:
Sports and speakers corner
Places to eat with tables, and game tables
Escape from noise/traffic
Develop a walking path between Salem and Hanover streets
Create a landmark -- a statue/monument/history/art -- for direction, orientation
Open-air market, covered
Parcel 9 -- An open-air, European-style market, covered in winter
SCENARIO 13:
A Perfect 18-hour Day
The group focused on creating a cyclical pattern around the day, the week and the seasons and a place for people -- neighbors, commuters, kids, youth. It proposed making sure that the quality and treatment of spaces reflect needs of the users:
Places for cyclists
Activity spaces for tai-chi, joggers, dog walkers
Places for people taking their lunch break
Little kid places along pathway, eg. play turtle -- and places for mothers
Spaces that allow for speed -- fast and slow walks, resting places, meandering paths
Spaces that respond to nature and the seasons -- open and closed spaces
Vibrant and friendly feeling
SCENARIO 14:
Wharf for All Seasons
A human scale, pedestrian focused approach was suggested for the Wharf District with mixed uses along the way and destinations on the Artery.
Passive in Summer, active in Winter
Festivity at every corner, food, retail -- mixed uses
Kiosks, civic spaces ... on the way
Ties to waterfront
Evergreens, flowering trees
Parks lit at night
Shuttle
SCENARIO 15:
Strolling Along
The group proposed building the park system organically in response to needs and resources -- leaving some parcels for future development. With their motto of: "Open Space is People Space," they proposed:
No imposed "Grand Scheme" but a focus on some key elements
Develop distinctive places that fit with the neighborhoods
Places along way -- views
Lively all seasons to attract people all year long
Visual and actual connections to buildings, Harbor islands
SCENARIO 16:
The Zipper
The theme of "blend and connect" guided this group, which developed proposals for knitting the area back together by:
A system of buildings, streets, and 'parklets' to meet abutter needs
Rejecting a 'linear park' notion and focusing on community connections
Spaces that appeal to all 5 senses
Connections to Harborwalk
Markets, dining
Approach: evolutionary, develop temporary/interim uses
SCENARIO 17:
Drumlin Park Scheme
With an eye towards ensuring that this is not "an island in the City," the group proposed an approach of connections with the city (with "users as the key") versus a focus on a linear park -- different from the Ramblas in Barcelona. They proposed:
Developing a series of discreet pieces
Close streets at some times, like Memorial Drive, or reconfigure Atlantic Avenue
Envision parks as being between building face to building face -- Parcels 15 and 16
Use water as element to work on flow/connections of cultures that live along the Artery
Focus café activity at and around Aquarium Garage area
Develop a programming/timing schedule of activities on certain days, for certain users -- for example Monday concerts, etc. -- for predictability
Musicians, jugglers, student venues for performances, climbing structures for kids
SCENARIO 18:
India Gardens
The belief that if we "make it work for us, it'll work for others" and a focus on natural life senses and elements, and issues of cleanliness and good maintenance guided this group. It proposed ideas for the Wharf District:
India Gardens: "waking up, working, making out, winding down"
Activities revolved around water
Relocate Harbor garage, transfer development rights to reconnect park directly to the Boston Harbor
Activate edges, provide bicycle racks, fountains, wind chimes, weather observatory
Retain some part of the elevated structure as memory/history/story to tell
A covered path linking Quincy Market to the Aquarium
View parks as Gateways to the City -- Columbus Park is a main gateway
SCENARIO 19:
Connecting People, Places, and the Sea
The group focused on creating connections for communities and more reasons for people to go to the sea. It proposed ideas for several areas along the Artery:
Theater/arts near North Station
Kids play spaces near Aquarium
Long Wharf: create reasons to go to the sea
Neighborhood: Garden area in Chinatown to give people a place
South Station: Best garden/sculpture places/visitor orientation, as well as a place for Commonwealth Shakespeare performances
SCENARIO 20:
Connections: Chinatown to North End
This group proposed developing connections between the two ends of the park system:
Trolley lane/service lane to connect the neighborhoods and keep people moving
Capping the two ends with markets, Haymarket in the North End and another market at the other end
Speaker corners
Benches, trash receptacles, toilets
Signage to connect, orient people
Bike lanes
SCENARIO 21:
La Vida (North End)
With an interest on ensuring there were "no empty, open spaces" the group focused on the joy of life, and encouraged:
Connecting North End to the City, with North End streets as pathways into the parks
Heavy pedestrian activity
Clean, green spaces with benches, structures for cafés, ice cream, book stores, flower vendors
Expanded push cart vendors, Haymarket
Buffer between business and residential district
Ongoing though small police presence
SCENARIO 22:
Cultural Pearl Necklace
Emphasizing social activity the group thought of calling their scenario "Socio-paths" but changed their minds to make sure their concept was not misunderstood. They highlighted Boston's cultural richness to propose:
A string of civic, public, open and cultural activities and spaces
Create a narrative linking neighborhoods to tell the cultural history of Boston
Cultural center -- sheltered but under cover
Children's space, seasonal and for times of day
SCENARIO 23:
Crossings in Common
This group's focus was connecting people who don't normally meet. The group focused its scenario on building social capital, community connections, and chance encounters by creating common ground.
Spaces that are:
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Universal but with a strong community component
Contemporary yet historical
Contemplative and thought provoking
Intimate and public/wide open
Vertical and horizontal
Evolving, allowing for flexibility and change
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Spaces that convey:
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Artistic intelligence
Cross connect with neighborhoods using arts, festivals, performances
Offer places for residents and for visitors
Accommodate Haymarket, skateboarders, food, vendors
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Governance that enables:
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End users to have a role in design process
Excellence in design
Boldness, experimentation, flexibility
Aesthetic sensibility and civic intelligence
Solves the issue of ownership
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SCENARIO 24:
Windows on the ARTery
Keeping the "ART" in the Artery and using the concept of an "artery" as a life line, the group's scenario revolved around the theme of "people" and "Art and Culture." Its ideas include:
Developing 'windows' to look down and into the Big Dig tunnel below
A kiosk about the development of the Big Dig
A children's playground
Reflecting pool or fountain with water drawn from the Harbor
Preserving a piece of the existing Artery as a 'trellis' for a marketplace and an elevator with a viewing platform to see the harbor and the city
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