Common Boston 09:Forum/Cities for Families

[briv]

Thu 18/ 6:30-8:00 PM

Forum / Cities for Families:
Designing Boston for Every Generation
Josiah Quincy School, 885 Washington Street

As American families continue to flee urban neighborhoods,
our lifestyles consume increasingly large
amounts of land, resources, and time away from
home. Boston offers great potential benefits for families
- including proximity to cultural institutions and
parks, a choice of transportation modes, and diversity
of housing and neighborhood services. However, we
must change the way we imagine and build our cities
to encourage families to stay in and move to urban
communities. Join creative thinkers and community
leaders from around the city in a discussion on rethinking
the way we design our civic realm, with the
goal of making Boston an attractive place to live for
every generation.
In attendance will be /
? Tom Keane, Moderator, Columnist for Boston Globe
Magazine, and former Boston city councilor
? Lou Casagrande, President of the Boston Children?s
Museum
? Jill Desimini, Senior Associate at StoSS Landscape
Urbanism
? Shauna Gillies-Smith, Founding Principal of Ground
? Susan Silberberg-Robinson, Lecturer in Urban
Design and Planning, MIT Department of Urban Studies
and Senior Vice-President, Community Partners
Consultants, Inc.
? Madeleine Steczynski, Executive Director of Zumix

More info @ http://www.commonboston.org/cb09/forum.html

Held in conjunction with Common Boston 2009: a celebration of our built environment?the streets, landscapes, buildings, and neighborhoods that make us distinctive.

The Common Boston 09 festival provides an opportunity for all of us to engage with new places and to interact with the people who shape the city. During our tours, discussions, open buildings, and student exhibition, we invite you to take a fresh look at Boston, to understand its history and imagine its future.

All events are free and open to the public.

 

[kennedy]

I'll be there, look for the teenage yuppie if you'd like to introduce yourself. I'm going to take notes, so I'll repost them here afterwards. Should be an interesting meeting.

 

[statler]

Yuppie? What exactly are you a 'professional' of?

I think you mean 'preppy'.

 

[vanshnookenraggen]

I think those are hipsters... maybe?

 

[statler]

Hipsters:

Preppies:

Now, hipsters can incorporate preppy elements into their wardrobe, but has to be done ironically.

 

[Beton Brut]

I dig Interpol. Douche-nozzles in ascots, not so much...

 

[briv]

I couldn't make it to this, but I think the subject is fascinating and important. It deserves more attention.

How about those notes, Kennedy?

 

[kennedy]

Five different presentations, from the five different panelists. The whole night sort of felt like a big meeting to address the problem, rather than solve any. Here's the notes, sorry for the wait:

LOU CASAGRANDE, the president of the Children's Museum:

There is a paradox between the assets and resources for families in Boston, but they form a disconnected archipelago.

Boston has more assets and resources (museums, universities, parks) for families than almost any other city, yet is near dead last when it comes to families living in the city.

Cities are centers of creativity, innovation, and learning.

Schools (elementary, in particular) need to be socially redefined as "community learning centers." A school that functions as a school during the day, a senior center in the afternoon, a place for adults to take classes at night, and a venue for community meetings, etc. would increase their value and cause older voters to vote for budget increases in the schools.

Schools should be used to interconnect neighborhoods and families to the islands of assets and resources.

JILL (couldn't hear last name) from Stoss Landscape Architecture:

An example of neighborhood parks in post-war Amsterdam was given, showing little, sometimes temporary, pocket playgrounds. Everyone in the city requested a small little park in little bombed out lots between buildings for the children to play in.

She talked about encouraging exploration and curiosity through "expanded play." She also talked about conceived risk, and creating environments where people feel like they shouldn't be there, or feel like they're in danger, but really aren't. Examples were a Brutalist fountain in Portland (OR or ME, I don't know.) Conceived risk.

SHAUNA GILLIES-SMITH the founding principal of Ground, Inc.:

Became a landscape architect because of the opportunity for the unexpected to happen.

Streets, walls, rooftops are hard spaces. Grassy parks are soft spaces.

Example of the Natick Mall roof, and the park atop it, in front of the residential development also built on the roof.

A multipurpose park can define a community.

SUSAN SILBERBERG-ROBINSON, from the MIT DUSP.

"Reality of the City vs. an Idealized Backyard"

"Life by the Square Foot vs. Life by the Acre"

Why suburbs? Changes in transportation, construction technology, government incentives (new housing is a major determinant in our economic health), and marketing (we've been told that we need more space.

People are buying a new kind of life; the American Dream.

Results? Less stay at home parents, no extended family, average 25 minute commutes.

Number one complaint of parents? "We don't have enough time!"

A year living in an Italian city with the family. Central family space, a combined kitchen, living room, entertainment space; heart of the home. Healthier; combined 30lb. weight loss, all while eating more pasta and cheese. Independent kids who took ownership of the neighborhood, and understood the city.

City living saves about 18 hours a week, if there are "connected assets." Almost one full day!

Time to shift to city living is now, the economy is causing people to rethink their needs and their lifestyles. Cities must invest in families. Education is still the number one reason families leave.

Cities must avoid becoming "urban playgrounds" for adults and the rich.

MADELEINE STECZYNSKI, the Executive Director of Zumix:

People in her neighborhood (East Boston) live in the city because of work opportunities and transit to them.

She would choose the city over suburbia because it offers more molds and opportunities for children.

FINAL NOTES:

Cities shouldn't try to play the suburbs game, instead should try and highlight a new kind of lifestyle for families; efficient living.

What is safety, and are cities safe? There is a perception of danger in the cities. In reality, sex, drugs, and alcohol are used more in the suburbs because kids simply have nothing else to do.

Suburbs provide a bought autonomy, but none for children. Must rely on parents for everything ("Mom, will you give me a ride to so-and-so's house?" as opposed to taking the T.)

Cities can provide for generational connections and greater social networks.



That's about all I wrote down, there was a lot more said that I couldn't write quickly enough. A very interesting forum, to say the least. Hardly a soul in the audience who didn't seem to agree. Which might also mean that we hardly got anything done.

 

[kennedy]

Yuppie? What exactly are you a 'professional' of?

I think you mean 'preppy'.

Sure, but it was a joke, because oftentimes on this forum people trash developments that cause "yuppification" and I'm always one to defend them. I always have heard it used meaning preppy, snobby, or spoiled.