The winning design teams for the Big Dig’s greenway parcels have been announced for a couple of weeks now, but I’m just now getting around to putting my two cents in. (Proposals are on display at the Boston Public Library. Click here for the Globe’s interactive section on the Big Dig planning). All that’s up for consideration now are the three parcels earmarked as parks - Chinatown, the North End and the Downtown/Wharf District. That leaves the big question mark of what they’re going to do with the Seaport District (the part of South Boston opened up by submerging the Central Artery). It’s here where the biggest dangers lie, of creating windswept tundra in the hopes of creating a charming Barcelona on the waterfront. I hope that the Boston Redevelopment Authority will approach the opportunity with the most useful tenets of New Urbanism Â- narrow streets, mixed-use zoning, pedestrian-friendly design Â- without the weird architectural conformism and postmodern ersatz that marks Seaside or Celebration, Florida.
The track records so far on the greenway parcels is mixed. Judging from the proposals on display, most of the design teams seemed very keen on integrating the parcel with the surrounding neighborhood, even to the point of dodgy claims of Feng Shui design in one Chinatown proposal. In fact, the teams will work with neighborhood groups in coming up with final designs. Let’s hope that a couple of blunders will fall by the wayside in the process: 1) a piazza planned for the North End parcel. Let’s stop trying to work in EPCOT-esque European design references. No canals, no Louvre pyramids, no Barcelona boulevards, no piazzas. 2) A skating rink planned for the Wharf District. Do the designers realize how brutally cold it is in the Financial District during winter? And do we really need another public skate pond? Is the Frog Pond in Boston Common not enough?
I’m curious to see where this is all going.
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