Building on 200 Years of Metropolitan Boston’s Planning & Development Congress for New Urbanism – New England Summit, 2014 James C. O’Connell
Oct 21, 2014
Building on 200 Years of Metropolitan
Boston’s Planning & Development Congress for New Urbanism – New England Summit, 2014
James C. O’Connell
Metropolitan Area Planning Council
(MAPC) – 101 Cities & Towns
Metropolitan Boston Development Layers
1. Town Centers & Proto-Suburbs (1800-1860)
2. Country Estates (1820-1920)
3. Railroad Suburbs (1840-1920)
4. Streetcar Suburbs (1870-1930)
5. Metropolitan Parkway Suburbs (1895-1945)
6. Suburban Mill Towns (1820-Present)
7. Postwar Automobile Suburbs (1945-1970)
8. Interstates, Exurbs, & Sprawl (1970-Present)
9. Urban Redevelopment (1945-Present)
10. Smart Growth Development (1990-Present)
Each Era’s Development Patterns
Each suburban era has produced a distinctive land use
development pattern:
Built landscape
Real estate development patterns
Transportation
Housing
Commercial
Open and public space
Two Types of Planning:
Coordinated Infrastructure Planning
Vernacular Development Patterns
Traditional Town Centers
1800-1860
Lexington Green
Proto-Suburbs
1800 - 1860
John Warner Barber, Brighton Cattle
Market, 1839
Country Retreats
1820 - 1920
Gardner House, Green Hill,
Brookline, 1806
Lyman Estate, Waltham, 1793
Bellmont, originally in Watertown
Built 1840; “Belmont” established 1859
Railroad Suburbs
1840 - 1920
Early Boston & Worcester Railroad
Seth Davis’s Hotel, West Newton –
First Suburban Railroad Station
Brigg’s Place/Walnut Park, Newton Corner
Newton, as a Railroad Suburb
Frederick Law Olmsted, Fisher Hill
Subdivision, Brookline,1884
Wollaston Park, Quincy, 1890
Brookline Annexation Veto, 1874-1880
Streetcar Suburbs
Horsecar Electric
1856 – 1889 1889-1930
Beacon Street, Brookline, 1915
Boston’s Commuting Radius
Horsecars, 1856
Frederick Law Olmsted, Beacon Street Design,
Brookline, 1886
Streetcar Suburb Development
Three-Deckers, Dorchester
Photo: Alex MacLean
Apartments, Beacon Street, Brookline
Mill Towns
1820 - Present
Boarding House, Lowell, ca. 1870
Planned Industrial Community - Lowell,
1876
Boarding House, Lowell, ca. 1870
Unplanned Industrial Community -
Cambridge
Ford Model T Plant New England Candy Co.
East Cambridge Housing
Parkway Suburbs
1893 - 1945
Memorial Drive, Cambridge, ca. 1930
Two Influential Planners
Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-
1903)
Charles Eliot (1859-1897)
Emerald Necklace Parks, 1875
Metropolitan Park System
In 7 years (1893-1900), Metropolitan Park System conserved 91,000
acres of open space, 13 miles of oceanfront, 56 miles of riverbank and
built 7 parkways.
MDC Parkways
Mystic River Parkway, 1897
Fellsway, ca. 1955
Typical Dutch Colonial House
Arlington, 1920s
Zoning
Zoning introduced 28 metropolitan Boston communities
have zoning 1928
Postwar Automobile Suburbs
1945 - 1970
Route 128, New England Industrial Park, Needham,
1952; photo 1959
Route 128, “America’s Technology Highway”
Hobbs Brook Office Park,
Waltham, 1955 Lincoln Laboratory, Lexington, 1951
Shoppers’ World, 1951
Route 1 Highway Strip, Saugus
Hilltop Steak House
Suburban-Style Houses
VFW Parkway, 1951-1953
Interstates, Exurbs, & Sprawl
1970 - Present
I-495 and Interstate Highway System Development, Westborough,
Intersection of I-495 & Mass. Pike
I-495 Development
Walmart, Central Mass. Housing Subdivision, I-495, 2000s
Big Box Stores
IKEA, Avon
McMansions
Walpole, 2000s
Boston Redefines the Center City/Invents the
Post-Modern City, 1945 - Present
Mayor Kevin White & Quincy Market, 1976
Seaport/Innovation District
Smart Growth/New Urbanism/Transit-
Oriented Development
1990 - Present
Cronin’s Landing, Moody Street, Waltham
Issues of New Urbanism Era
Respond to:
• Low-Density Sprawl
• Need for Suburban
Town Center
Revitalization
• Need for Growth
Opportunities in
Buildout Communities
Infill, Amesbury, MA, ca. 2000
Canton – Zoning Reform, 2000
Canton allows residential above retail - mixed-use zoning
Station Landing, Medford, 2006
MBTA Commuter Railroad System
TOD Opportunities
Woodland Station, Newton
Arborpoint Apartments
Lifestyle Center
“The Street,” Chestnut Hill
Wayland Town Center, 2013
Northpoint, Cambridge
Started 10 years ago and will take another 10 years; 2,900 units; 200,000 sf
retail; 2 million sf lab & office; $2 b.; remake Lechmere Station by 2017
Assembly Square, Somerville
$1.3 billion; 2,100 units (450 units 2014), 500,000 sf retail (330,000 sf 2014); hotel;
cinema; 1.75 million sf office & retail; Cavalia under tall tent; Legoland
Discovery Center; Orange Line Station 2014; 6-acre park on Mystic River &
bike paths
Key Questions for Future Regional
Development
• MAPC projects
Greater Boston needs
305,00 new housing
units by 2040 to serve
6% pop. growth &
435,000 units for 13%
growth - where will
they be located?
• Will incrementalism &
NIMBYism be
obstacles?
Metropolitan Area Planning Council,
MetroFuture Regional Plan (2008)
Austin Street Parking Lot, Newtonville
Newtonville Square Development
Partners
74,000 sf; RFP for housing (25% affordable), retail, 5 % open space, &
replacement & resident parking
Austin Street, Newtonville
Austin Street Partners New Atlantic Development
Newton Tab Cartoon, February 3, 2014
Creating 21st-Century Communities & Regions
Jim O’Connell’s Website
www.thehubsmetropolis.com
Olympics as Urban Regeneration
International Building Exhibition (IBA)
Repurposing the Industrial Ruhr, 1999
Emscher Park, Ruhr The Ruhr
International Building Exhibition (IBA)
Coping with Climate Change in Hamburg,
2013
Goal to create car-free city in 15-20 years & cope with rising sea & river levels.
How to Promote New Urbanism
• Virtual IBA - Highlight
existing model
projects
• Campaign to
reconceptualize
suburban town
centers
• Redevelop highway
strips
TOD, Abington