Rose Kennedy Greenway is a "Placeless Desert"

Boston's Rose Kennedy Greenway is an urban park built over the "Big Dig" highway tunnel, and as Robert Campbell of the Boston Globe puts it, "a design disaster."

1 minute read

May 3, 2010, 8:00 AM PDT

By Tim Halbur


Campbell says that the lessons of Jane Jacobs were clearly ignored by the planners and designers behind the Rose Kennedy Greenway. On a recent walk, he found it almost entirely deserted.

Campbell writes, "It's a series of oversize shapeless spaces, none of which seems to have a purpose. Some are paved with stone, some with concrete, some have trees, some have flowers. It all feels random. It doesn't look as if it's been shaped by a creative mind. There are things to look at but nothing to do.

Only twice did I feel I was in anything I'd define as a memorable place."

Friday, April 30, 2010 in Project for Public Spaces blog

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