Educate everyone on a good website...

boston_squared_small.png


Geometry riddle: When is a square not a square?
Answer: When it?s in New England.

Above with the stupid title is a series of minimal street maps I traced to show the varied actual shapes of a selection of so-called ?squares? in the central Boston area. Urban spaces come in all shapes, as you can discover with this nifty tool, and a city square in any part of the world is by no means guaranteed to be a literal square, but New England?s style of square is peculiar (at least in this country) in its especially confused geometry. Unlike many places where a square is most often defined by a public open space or civic structure, here a square is typically defined by an intersection of two or more?usually closer to 4 gazillion?thoroughfares and/or other streets. The square?s name further applies to a business district around that intersection, and sometimes to an entire neighborhood. Thus the squares strongly define much of the local geography and organization of Boston and its close surroundings, as you can see in the diagrammatic Unmapped Boston poster. They are many things, but rarely are they square. You?ll also find some Circles and Corners around town, but they tend to be a bit more true to their names.

Any locals out there can probably find fault with my selection here or with the extent of the individual square maps, but I?ve tried to capture the central intersections of many of the major players. The collection can always grow! Entertain yourself by trying to identify each square before consulting the list under the title. (Squares from Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, and Brookline are included.)

To everyone else: Sorry, I know you don?t care. But this city is just so mappable! (And in a way, undermapped.) You should come visit.

Previously: Squares can also be difficult to drive through, and they make good logos.

Edit: don?t hate me for this, but I?m in experimental stages of posting junk like this for sale at Zazzle, just in case anybody takes pride enough in their squares to put this on a t-shirt or poster. Something more professional and less desperate-looking will occur over time!
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http://www.cartogrammar.com/blog/boston-squared/
 
I saw that. Pretty cool.

I wonder how many intersections in metro Boston really are "squares". The NYT did a piece around Memorial Day about how difficult it was for local veterans' groups to decorate all the little plaques marking every "square" named for a fallen soldier.
 
As the author of that and regular lurker here, just wanted to say I'm glad to see it posted here!

I'm still waiting for somebody to call me out for using an out-of-date map of Maverick Square. I took a ride over there to check out the redesign but was too lazy to sketch it and turn it into a map, and instead relied on older aerial photos.

I remember that Memorial Day piece about all the squares. Cambridge too is amusingly square-happy... it's rare to find an intersection that isn't signed as So-And-So Square.
 
I think Memorial Square is the only square square in the city (not including the little intersections named after vets).
 
piggiston said:
I'm still waiting for somebody to call me out for using an out-of-date map of Maverick Square. I took a ride over there to check out the redesign but was too lazy to sketch it and turn it into a map, and instead relied on older aerial photos.
Click to expand...

Start sketching.
 
I remember that Memorial Day piece about all the squares. Cambridge too is amusingly square-happy... it's rare to find an intersection that isn't signed as So-And-So Square.
Click to expand...

I think even Harvard Square has been renamed...on a number of different corners.
 
BostonUrbEx said:
I think Memorial Square is the only square square in the city (not including the little intersections named after vets).
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I meant to say Monument Square. Which is already on there, but I don't think it's the same one I'm thinking of. (in Charlestown)
 
Beton Brut said:
Start sketching.
Click to expand...
Awesome, thanks. I searched and searched for any kind of aerial photo or plan but came up short. Somehow I missed that photo.

re Monument Square... I should have posed some questions here first, because you guys can set me straight on some things. I'm going for the spot in JP that seems to be known as either Eliot Square or Monument Square and opted for the latter (spaced on the confusion with Charlestown). What is the correct, or at least more common, name? I've found it difficult to verify any of this square business with Googling.
 
^^That and the corresponding @jane_jacobs are fantastic. Thanks
 
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