An exhibit remembers the days when the Boston Redevelopment Authority dreamed enormous dreams and asks: have we lost our ambition?
They could have called it the Slippery End: a brand-new, ultra-modern neighborhood floating in the Boston Harbor. The idea -- the dream -- was to build a 690-acre grid on floating platforms and use it to host the Bicentennial Exhibition in 1976, and then transform the site into housing for 45,000 new residents. The young director of the Boston Redevelopment Agency, which drew up the plans, intended it to be an urban laboratory demonstrating the most advanced ideas in open space, transit, and mixed-income housing. And a gigantic, climate-controlled geodesic dome!
Was it so crazy it just might work? Or just . . . so crazy? We'll never know. The proposal, which in one 1969 poll enjoyed the support of 77 percent of Bostonians, also generated powerful opposition. Although the mayor supported it, the City Council did not, and the plan ultimately fell apart.
Now, the Boston Society of Architects has unearthed the plans for the floating neighborhood and put them on display. The exhibit is intended to stimulate a conversation about whether, in reaction to the excesses of the urban renewal area, we've lost the ability to think big.
Thanks to Rachel Proctor May
FULL STORY: Boston's Lost Island Neighborhood
Boston Hopes to Make it Easier for Developers to Prepare for Rising Seas
Several agencies with the city of Boston will begin studying how to retrofit the city's building codes to prepare for the impacts of climate change.
Boston Confronts the Origins of Its Lousy Architecture
For the first 300-or-so years of its history, Boston built some of the most handsome, historic neighborhoods in the country. Lately, says critic Rachel Slade, it has given in to mediocrity. Mayor Marty Walsh is trying to undo the damage.
Boston Redevelopment Authority Preparing for 2015 Building Boom
The Boston Globe reports on a year of massive investments, as well as sweeping changes in leadership, taking place in the offices of the Boston Redevelopment Authority.
Pennsylvania Mall Conversion Bill Passes House
If passed, the bill would promote the adaptive reuse of defunct commercial buildings.
Planning for Accessibility: Proximity is More Important than Mobility
Accessibility-based planning minimizes the distance that people must travel to reach desired services and activities. Measured this way, increased density can provide more total benefits than increased speeds.
World's Largest Wildlife Overpass In the Works in Los Angeles County
Caltrans will soon close half of the 101 Freeway in order to continue construction of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing near Agoura Hills in Los Angeles County.
Eviction Looms for Low-Income Tenants as Rent Debt Rises
Nonprofit housing operators across the country face almost $10 billion in rent debt.
Brightline West Breaks Ground
The high-speed rail line will link Las Vegas and the Los Angeles area.
Colorado Bans No-Fault Evictions
In most cases, landlords must provide a just cause for evicting tenants.
City of Costa Mesa
Licking County
Barrett Planning Group LLC
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Mpact Transit + Community
HUD's Office of Policy Development and Research
Tufts University, Department of Urban and Environmental Policy & Planning
City of Universal City TX
ULI Northwest Arkansas
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
