Monday’s Boston Marathon bombing was “an attack on public space,” writes architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne. But that doesn’t mean we should respond by closing off the sidewalks and streets the bombers targeted.
Unlike the September 11, 2001 attacks, which targeted architecture itself, the Marathon bombs went after the city’s streets, what Louis Kahn called “room[s] of agreement.” If the long-term effects of Monday’s attack include reversing the contemporary revival of public space, the community-building aspects of urban space celebrated by Kahn and others will suffer damage.
“It is at times like these that the idea of the open, urban and democratic street . . . is more vulnerable and more valuable than ever,” Hawthorne argues.
Read the full story: Keeping the idea of city streets safe in Boston Marathon aftermath
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City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello