Copley Square Revamp | Back Bay

BosDevelop said:
Start in September and finish in March-June. And why would it need to be done by spring when it is 45 degrees, raining and no one wants to spend more time outside than nececssary? Unless this takes more than 9 months to complete, the timing makes no sense to me.
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I would think having it completed by the Boston marathon in April would be an incentive. Copley Square is used heavily for that event.
 
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I'm not a pre-teen, but I'm also nowhere near old enough for it to make any logical sense how many times I've lived through Copley and City Hall plazas being torn up and redone (only to be redone, again, years/decades later).

Why is Boston so shitty at designing and building long-term plazas/squares?
 
chrisbrat said:
I'm not a pre-teen, but I'm also nowhere near old enough for it to make any logical sense how many times I've lived through Copley and City Hall plazas being torn up and redone (only to be redone, again, years/decades later).

Why is Boston so shitty at designing and building long-term plazas/squares?
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Too many "cooks" in the design process. No one in charge with a real, grand vision. Trying to do too many things with a limited resource, and hence doing them all poorly.

Great public squares were not designed by committee, they were designed by visionary designers.
 
I dunno how "visionary" you'd need to be to look at/reference the abundance of centuries-old, consistently popular and successful plazas throughout Europe (and elsewhere) and just do the same goddamn thing here.

None of this is complex math.
 
chrisbrat said:
I dunno how "visionary" you'd need to be to look at/reference the abundance of centuries-old, consistently popular and successful plazas throughout Europe (and elsewhere) and just do the same goddamn thing here.

None of this is complex math.
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It is not complex math, but it is complex politically. Because most successful plazas you reference in Europe have eliminated the roads, and are plaza across the entire expanse (building wall to building wall). That doesn't happen easily in America.

Example: Plaza Mayor in Madrid:
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Does anyone have a pic of how it'll look when it's done? Wasn't a water fountain there? I hope they bring it back!!! :eek:
 
Jahvon09 said:
Does anyone have a pic of how it'll look when it's done? Wasn't a water fountain there? I hope they bring it back!!! :eek:
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According to some of the pictured proposals, looks like a small fountain will be put in. :unsure:
 
JeffDowntown said:
It is not complex math, but it is complex politically. Because most successful plazas you reference in Europe have eliminated the roads, and are plaza across the entire expanse (building wall to building wall). That doesn't happen easily in America.

Example: Plaza Mayor in Madrid:
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Are there really any American examples? Closest I can think of are Jackson Square in New Orleans and Santa Fe Plaza (both still not entirely car-free).
 
lynqueezy said:
Looks the same as it did before 💀
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Yeah, it does. And frankly, it was perfectly fine before. Copley will always be perfectly fine, because, unlike City Hall, it's modestly sized and surrounded by actively used buildings. If they want to make a drastic change, they should close Dartmouth in front of the library and incorporate it into the Plaza.
 
In fairness, Copley Square has been looking a bit worn for at least a decade. They may not be fundamentally changing the purpose of the square, as they shouldn’t, but it’s a welcome refresh that should make it more functional and modernized in the process.
 
BronsonShore said:
If they want to make a drastic change, they should close Dartmouth in front of the library and incorporate it into the Plaza.
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The city announced that was the plan, but I haven't heard anything more about it since then:
mass.streetsblog.org

City Declares Copley Open Street Pilot a 'Success' and Plans Permanent Improvements - Streetsblog Massachusetts

72 percent of survey respondents expressed a "very positive" opinion about making the car-free plaza permanent.
mass.streetsblog.org mass.streetsblog.org

It's good they're coming up with some long term plan for the place, but frustrating they're not blocking cars on that bit of street in the mean time. They did the cheap version trial run last year. Set that up again so people can use the space, while consultants spend the next year or more coming up with plans.
 
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