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Planning for transportation and public space at the same time

At a Glance

  • 800

    Miles Paved Streets

  • 1200

    Miles of Sidewalks

Location
Boston, Massachusetts
Offices
Award
CNU Charter Award 2017

Boston Public Realm Plan

Mobility—or getting around the city—is the main way most Boston residents experience the public realm. As they move through the city, people interact, express themselves, do business, and build community. Yet transportation planning often focuses on the movement of people more than the experience of mobility.

To improve Boston mobility, we turned to placemaking, an approach to planning and design that focuses on enhancing the experience of a place. Often beginning with small-scale, strategic improvements to public spaces, this approach can help express local culture, brand a neighborhood, and make the city more fun (and attractive for investment). It can also bring together diverse groups of people who might not interact otherwise.

We began by evaluating the State of the Public Realm in Boston and examining inspirational ideas for Boston’s Public Realm from other cities. We then created a framework for mobility planning that prioritizes improvements to the social, cultural, and experiential aspects of transportation, which the City of Boston has adopted as part of the Go Boston 2030 transportation planning process.

We are currently designing a demonstration project with the City of Boston to showcase tenets of the Placemaking for Mobility framework that will be completed in 2017.

At a Glance

  • 800

    Miles Paved Streets

  • 1200

    Miles of Sidewalks

Location
Boston, Massachusetts
Offices
Award
CNU Charter Award 2017

Meet Our Team

David Dixon, Vice President, Urban Places Fellow

We help communities manage change to become more livable, equitable, and resilient.

David Dixon

Vice President, Urban Places Fellow

We’re better together

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  • Design your career

    Work with passionate people who are experts in their field. Our teams love what they do and are driven by how their work makes an impact on the communities they serve.

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