"Pavement Plaza" locations

Shepard

Shepard

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I'd like to get a list going of all places where the city could implement a quick and easy (if such a thing is possible) "Pavements to Plazas" improvement. For those who are unfamiliar with the concept, this refers to new pedestrian spaces created out of roadway or parking lots using little more than lane markings, perhaps some barriers and/or planters, and, typically, tables and chairs. Times Square has been the most widely cited example, but these also work extremely well in smaller spaces too.

I'll add a bit of controversy by opining that, where I've seen them, they seem to be far more successful than the typical American grass/bench/curb traffic island that often mimics amorphous suburban greenspace. Maybe it's the novelty, or maybe that they're designed to be USED rather than just look pretty. (Look at the LA picture below... which is more likely to be used: the functional table/chair setup on the road, or the traditional triangle park which looks pretty but ends up being rather anti-social?)

San Francisco:
Picture_11.png


Brooklyn:
09plaza.large.jpg


Los Angeles:
Sunset-Triangle-Plaza-Rios-Clementi-Hale-Studios-2-537x357.jpg


Here's my list of potential pavement parks around Boston to kick us off:

  • Beacon Street and Bay State Road, Kenmore - large triangle could inhabit much of that intersection
  • Franklin Street, Financial District - between Hawley and Devonshire, the road is so wide that easily half of the street could be painted plaza
  • Wintrhop Square, Financial District - painted plaza could extend the pedestrian space much further out into the triangle
  • Liberty Square, Financial District - the Kilby Street side of the triangle is superfluous for cars - can be painted plaza
  • Statler Park, Back Bay - easily half of Columbus Ave in front of McCormack and Schmick could be painted plaza to extend the park into the roadway
  • Cleveland Circle - half the parking ring on the retail side, from Cityside to the former Bangkok Bistro (leaving an outlet for Sutherland)

Anyway - those are some possibilities to get us started. I'm certain there are many, many more. Would be great to get these locations mapped out as well. Anyone so inclined could post renders from Google Earth too!
 
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I like it.

There must be a dozen acute intersections in East Boston that could get this treatment. But they're all used for parking. And will continue to be until end of time, sadly.
 
CSTH said:
I like it.

There must be a dozen acute intersections in East Boston that could get this treatment. But they're all used for parking. And will continue to be until end of time, sadly.
Click to expand...

Indeed. I'm most concerned with the ones at intersections with very active frontages - Bennington is full of these, and they aren't even typically used for parking... just lots of wasted asphalt. Like here where London St splits off at Bennington St: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=bos&...Y7TEx4t-SG7XqYe_L-612w&cbp=12,237.37,,0,11.32 - you could get a great set of cafe tables right there in the triangle. It's not even currently used for parking.

Where Havre St splits from Bennington St is incredibly similar - also a boatload of wasted not used for anything including parking, and which could really support some enhanced streetlife: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=bos&...4t-SG7XqYe_L-612w&cbp=12,237.37,,0,11.32&z=18

One more for good measure: Bennington and Paris Streets: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=bos&...1xrt6sWTBaT-A5fiw&cbp=12,232.33,,0,12.47&z=18

Edit: just one more from Eastie to illustrate the full level of our depravity when it comes to our roads. It's an abomination that we can't imagine better for spaces like this: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=bos&...gaO8_-sbPfpt2oABA&cbp=12,199.23,,0,12.46&z=18 - again, we're not even talking about an area used for parking.
 
http://goo.gl/maps/j4wKF

I'm impressed with what they did with the former Main St./Mass Ave. triangle of death in Central Square. Always room for improvement...I'd like to see the abutting restaurants be allowed to take better advantage of it as a food court. But people actually use this thing as an extension of the perpetually people-filled square, so it's been a revelation at an intersection that used to be an asphalt wall at the edge of the earth. I used to live off Brookline St. a couple blocks down from TT The Bear's about 9 years ago. The Main triangle was functionally "Thar Be Dragons" land from the Brookline-Sidney corner of the square until they did this.
 
F-Line to Dudley said:
http://goo.gl/maps/j4wKF

I'm impressed with what they did with the former Main St./Mass Ave. triangle of death in Central Square. Always room for improvement...I'd like to see the abutting restaurants be allowed to take better advantage of it as a food court. But people actually use this thing as an extension of the perpetually people-filled square, so it's been a revelation at an intersection that used to be an asphalt wall at the edge of the earth. I used to live off Brookline St. a couple blocks down from TT The Bear's about 9 years ago. The Main triangle was functionally "Thar Be Dragons" land from the Brookline-Sidney corner of the square until they did this.
Click to expand...

I agree that works great - particularly because the setup of tables is so inviting. Here's a contrary example of a triangle that doesn't work - nearby where Hampshire splits from Broadway (google maps calls it Reardon Square): https://maps.google.com/?ll=42.3655...rjLAcfamFmlNSrO3LyUA&cbp=12,324.4,,0,4.9&z=18

Who's going to use that grass? The hedges adjacent to every sidewalk seem to say: "Keep Out, Private Property." That's a reason why I think these pavement parks I've shown work so much better than these traditional suburbanized patches of lawn. The pavement parks are VERY clearly public space, open, inviting, and with a clear use and utility (like the Mass Ave plaza). "Reardon Square" says that open space is eye candy, nothing more.
 
^ Agree. A small patch of manicured grass screams "keep off the grass!" While any amount of seating is very inviting. The more the merrier for seating - I feel like solitary park benches are used primarily by solitary homeless, while groups and clusters of seating indicate a gathering place which invites gatherings of people.
 
Agreed. The greenspace fenzy today has too much suburban "good fences make good neighbors" mentality behind it. Which is not surprising because the planning gods who cook up this stuff and make the land use decisions for urbanites themselves come heavily from the ranks of rich bedroom community dwellers.

I don't care if it's pavement or grass. There's plenty of usable grass out there. But there's a big difference in intent between public space and greenspace. The latter deserves to be an epithet, not a buzzword. These proposals need a lot more justification in how they're going to attract real usage instead of the pretty PowerPoints showing renderings of people sitting on grass that in actual practice implicitly warns "Keep off this grass". I hope people are wisening up to this snow job and keeping score of which of these spaces around town attract rather than deflect public use. There's enough bumper crop of reference points to draw from today that people oughta be able to smell a good or bad ___space proposal when they see one.
 
Reminds me of when Menino wanted them to rebuild the Casey overpass but this time with "greenspace" underneath.
 
Matthew said:
Reminds me of when Menino wanted them to rebuild the Casey overpass but this time with "greenspace" underneath.
Click to expand...

That's another thing I hope happens when the Menino-age fossils at the BRA overturn for a younger generation after he leaves office. Those guys don't have the faintest understanding of public space, because they got into civic life in an era when real public space was at its unfriendlist, most brutalist nadir. The old men see the need, but are totally kerfuzzled at the purpose because they spent their whole lives amongst peers rarely inclined to use public spaces on a firsthand basis. Hence, "plant a bunch of greenspace everywhere that looks great from a car" and call it a day.

While I don't exactly have high expectations for the next regime, just flushing City Hall and the BRA full of people who were in their 20's or 30's during the 1990's renaissance when real public spaces went back on the front-burner will do a lot of good. Those are folks who came of age actually using some of this new space themselves or expressing firsthand disappointment that those new spaces didn't quite live up to their potential. It's a reference point that the Meninosaurs who came of age during the flagging entrails of the urban renewal era just don't intrinsically have that newer generations (to varying degrees) do.
 
I have met some younger staff at the BRA who seem quite promising. I hope they don't get tossed along with the old fogies.
 
I think that a pedestrian seating zone in the heart of Union Square Allston would be an instant hit - so much asphalt for cars, so many restaurants, so little outdoor seating. But, I keep staring at Google Earth and drawing lines but can't figure out where it would go... seems like one lane or another crosses every point?
 
The useless patch of grass at Main and Broadway at Kendall Square could also have much better use...
 
The little fireman's park in Union Sq could be made a bit more friendly. Right now it's mostly a disposal area for nips.
 
^ Seems to be true of any space that has nothing but mulch, landscaping, trees, and a few isolated benches. Social spaces make for social activity. Anti-social spaces make, unsurprisingly, for anti-social activity. Check this awful "plaza" out in front of Whole Foods on Westland: https://maps.google.com/?ll=42.3435...vPUSaaQWIBypuYZJFv2RIg&cbp=12,346.82,,0,-0.74
It's extremely pretty, no denying it... the trees are lush, flowers plentiful, and the sculpture is rather fantastic. But there's nothing to do here - it's a glorified traffic island, a place for pedestrians to land out of the way of cars while crossing from one side of the large intersection to the other. If I were a piece of mulch I'd have a great time here. As a person, not so much.

To its credit, I think the Greenway is getting this mostly right. The parts that are meant to be strolled through are inviting to stroll through. The parts that ask people to linger have inviting amenities and street furniture which causes people to stick around. I'm still upset that it's a median strip - I hate the fact that there are 3 lanes on either side of it, many cross streets, and worst of all highway ramps all over the place. Despite that, it's shaping up as a public space that works.

That to me is the point of this thread. A triangle of asphalt in the middle of an intersection inherently has nothing going for it - but just a few planters and some tables can make it a successful public space which also announces that the street is open to both cars AND pedestrians. Spend tens of thousands of dollars on that same small patch with landscaping, curbs, fencing and so on - and you can end up with a completely wasted space, one that announces the street is really only for cars and pedestrians are just tolerated.
 
Magoun Square in Somerville (at the Medford line) might be a good place to try this experiment?
 
I'd go for Bay State Road and Beacon. I'd make Bay State Road turn at the bow of the Miles Standish House so that it would be a normal "T" intersection and fill in the remainder.
 
I wish this could be done at Inman Square. It can't, because the fire station is right in the middle of the intersection and the equipment needs all of that pavement to get in and out.
 
There is this place on Tremont Street that could be turned into a nice little nook.

Right here.

Also agree on that place in front of the Whole Foods in back of Symphony Hall.
 
A couple months ago, the city of Somerville experimented for a few days with turning a small triangular parking lot, sandwiched between Elm St, Summer St, and Cutter Ave, into a temporary plaza with food trucks and tables.
 
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