Building on 200 Years of Metropolitan Boston's Planning and Development Jame's O'Connell

1. Building on 200 Years of Metropolitan
Boston’s Planning & Development
Congress for New Urbanism – New England Summit, 2014
James C. O’Connell

2. Metropolitan Area Planning Council
(MAPC) – 101 Cities & Towns

3. 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)

4. 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

5. Traditional Town Centers
1800-1860
Lexington Green

6. Proto-Suburbs
1800 - 1860
John Warner Barber, Brighton Cattle
Market, 1839

7. Country Retreats
1820 - 1920
Gardner House, Green Hill,
Brookline, 1806

8. Lyman Estate, Waltham, 1793

9. Bellmont, originally in Watertown
Built 1840; “Belmont” established 1859

10. Railroad Suburbs
1840 - 1920
Early Boston & Worcester Railroad
Seth Davis’s Hotel, West Newton –
First Suburban Railroad Station

11. Brigg’s Place/Walnut Park, Newton Corner

12. Newton, as a Railroad Suburb

13. Frederick Law Olmsted, Fisher Hill
Subdivision, Brookline,1884

14. Wollaston Park, Quincy, 1890

15. Brookline Annexation Veto, 1874-1880

16. Streetcar Suburbs
Horsecar Electric
1856 – 1889 1889-1930
Beacon Street, Brookline, 1915

17. Boston’s Commuting Radius

18. Horsecars, 1856

19. Frederick Law Olmsted, Beacon Street Design,
Brookline, 1886

20. Streetcar Suburb Development
Three-Deckers, Dorchester
Photo: Alex MacLean
Apartments, Beacon Street, Brookline

21. Mill Towns
1820 - Present
Boarding House, Lowell, ca. 1870

22. Planned Industrial Community - Lowell,
1876
Boarding House, Lowell, ca. 1870

23. Unplanned Industrial Community -
Cambridge
Ford Model T Plant New England Candy Co.

24. East Cambridge Housing

25. Parkway Suburbs
1893 - 1945
Memorial Drive, Cambridge, ca. 1930

26. Two Influential Planners
Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-
1903)
Charles Eliot (1859-1897)

27. Emerald Necklace Parks, 1875

28. 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.

29. MDC Parkways
Mystic River Parkway, 1897
Fellsway, ca. 1955

30. Typical Dutch Colonial House
Arlington, 1920s

31. Zoning
Zoning introduced 28 metropolitan Boston communities
have zoning 1928

32. Postwar Automobile Suburbs
1945 - 1970
Route 128, New England Industrial Park, Needham,
1952; photo 1959

33. Route 128, “America’s Technology Highway”
Hobbs Brook Office Park,
Waltham, 1955 Lincoln Laboratory, Lexington, 1951

34. Shoppers’ World, 1951

35. Route 1 Highway Strip, Saugus
Hilltop Steak House

36. Suburban-Style Houses
VFW Parkway, 1951-1953

37. Interstates, Exurbs, & Sprawl
1970 - Present
I-495 and Interstate Highway System Development, Westborough,
Intersection of I-495 & Mass. Pike

38. I-495 Development
Walmart, Central Mass.Housing Subdivision, I-495, 2000s

39. Big Box Stores
IKEA, Avon

40. McMansions
Walpole, 2000s

41. Boston Redefines the Center City/Invents the
Post-Modern City, 1945 - Present

42. Mayor Kevin White & Quincy Market, 1976

43. Seaport/Innovation District

44. Smart Growth/New Urbanism/Transit-
Oriented Development
1990 - Present
Cronin’s Landing, Moody Street, Waltham

45. 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

46. Canton – Zoning Reform, 2000
Canton allows residential above retail - mixed-use zoning

47. Station Landing, Medford, 2006

48. MBTA Commuter Railroad System
TOD Opportunities

49. Woodland Station, Newton
Arborpoint Apartments

50. Lifestyle Center
“The Street,” Chestnut Hill

51. Wayland Town Center, 2013

52. 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

53. 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

54. 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)

55. Austin Street Parking Lot, Newtonville
Newtonville Square Development
Partners
74,000 sf; RFP for housing (25% affordable), retail, 5 % open space, &
replacement & resident parking

56. Austin Street, Newtonville
Austin Street PartnersNew Atlantic Development

57. Newton Tab Cartoon, February 3, 2014

58. Creating 21st-Century Communities & Regions
Jim O’Connell’s Website
www.thehubsmetropolis.com

60. Olympics as Urban Regeneration

61. International Building Exhibition (IBA)
Repurposing the Industrial Ruhr, 1999
Emscher Park, RuhrThe Ruhr

62. 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.

63. How to Promote New Urbanism
• Virtual IBA - Highlight
existing model
projects
• Campaign to
reconceptualize
suburban town
centers
• Redevelop highway
strips
TOD, Abington