Metropolitan District Commission
Boston, Cambridge, and Watertown, Massachusetts
The first comprehensive master plan in 60 years for one of the country’s preeminent regional urban park systems.
Recognition:
- American Society of Landscape Architects—2001 Honor Award for Analysis and Planning
- American Planning Association, Massachusetts Chapter—2002 Award for Comprehensive Planning
Project Highlights:
- Created 90 years ago by renowned landscape architect Charles Eliot, among others, the basin has endured extensive changes wrought by the automobile, reduced park staffing, and decades of deferred maintenance.
- Park grounds are severely compacted and worn; historic bridges need structural work; riverside trees are dying; paths are overcrowded; and invasive species have choked off river views and reduced botanical diversity.
Strategy:
Enhance the visitor and user experience by:
- Creating new multiuse pathways and opening the water to increased recreational use, all while preserving the character of the area.
- Designing strategies to preserve historic facilities, restore degraded wetlands and riverbanks, and improve landscaping and parkway design.
- Establishing a shared vision that creates stronger advocacy and new public/private partnerships.
- Fostering new management policies.
Goody Clancy facilitated dozens of public meetings attended by more that 1,000 people to create a shared vision. Many plan recommendations are underway, including creating a Cambridge-side esplanade, improving pedestrian access to the Charles River, and restoring the historic Longfellow Bridge.