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