Boston

Love it or hate it, it's nearly impossible not to have an opinion of Boston's brutalist City Hall building. To mark the fiftieth anniversary of its conception, Leon Neyfakh reports on the improbable story of its creation.

As urban parks across the country are being created and refurbished thanks in large part to private philanthropy (e.g. the High Line and Millennium Park), Charles Birnbaum asks who will come to the rescue of Boston's famed Emerald Necklace.

On the eve of the Super Bowl, Richard Florida attempts to answer one of the most critical debates concerning metropolitan vitality today -- which is the superior sports town: Boston or New York?

It's been more than 50 years since Boston's old West End was demolished, so why does the neighborhood still have its own newspaper, museum, and weekly gatherings?

Following highly publicized urban highway removal success stories like Boston's Big Dig and San Francisco's Embarcadero, Anthony Flint asks whether similar successes will be easy to duplicate.

An innovative tenants-rights organization in Boston combines community activism and financial backing to force banks to sell foreclosed homes back to the previous owners.

Leon Neyfakh of The Boston Globe examines the unexpectedly cohesive political roots of the controversial civic symbol.

The Boston Public Market construction has been slow going - in fact, it's still in the blueprint stage - but officials say work will begin this summer in a site along the Rose Kennedy Greenway, the part built over the Big Dig site.

In this post, John Keith suggests five methods to help Boston be more affordable to live in, including striking out the city's affordable housing program altogether.

Kaid Benfield argues that continues revitalization of inner city neighborhoods is essential to achieving an equitable civil society, sustainable patterns of growth and maintaining a tax base to fund civic improvements.

Andres Sevstuk, lecturer at MIT and head of the City Form Research Group describes how the new Urban Network Analysis toolbox is "taking a much more rigorous approach to look at the work of urban design."

Boston's bike share program Hubway has attracted 2,319 annual subscribers and had 36,612 station-to-station trips after one month of being open, reportst Erick Moskowitz for The Boston Globe.

It appears that everyone is talking about the impact that sports stadiums have on urban economic development. As soon as one person says they're a terrible idea, another article will retort the benefits brought to a given city.

Andres Sevstuk, lecturer at MIT and head of the City Form Research Group describes how the new Urban Network Analysis Toolbox is, "taking a much more rigorous approach to look at the work of urban design."

Mayor Thomas Menino declared that "the car is no longer king in Boston" as the Hubway bike-sharing system made its debut this week, putting the city abreast with Washington D.C.

In an effort to improve the visitor experience and boost business, operators of a busy transit hub in Boston are bringing in performers and various activities to entertain people waiting and convince others to linger longer.

Robert Campbell keeps hoping that the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway (the park built over the Big Dig site) will attract visitors. But even as it gets more beautiful, it still fails in terms of usage.

A new study, "Tech for Transit: Designing a Future System," concluded that four-fifths of research participants felt car ownership was not essential to their everyday commute.

Innovation Districts are helping metropolitan areas around the country lead the way toward economic recovery.

This piece from Next American City looks at plans to dramatically rework streetscapes in Boston, and cheers the effort.