3. We went to great lengths to transform our cities to accommodate
the automobile.
Before 1922 After1922
Manhattan’s Park Avenue at 50th Street looking north
4. 1913
2005
"Erosion of cities by automobiles entails so familiar a series of events
that they hardly need describing. The erosion proceeds as a kind of
nibbling -- Jane Jacobs
8. Today we are left with cities where motor vehicles largely dominate
public space.
9. The Casey Overpass -- quite literally – places the automobile above
other aspects of neighborhood life.
10. Bostonians might be skeptical about the promise of public space.
Boston City Hall Plaza
11. Today we know a lot more about how to create, evaluate and
maintain great streets and public spaces.
Copenhagen, Denmark
12. Boston also has some of America’s loveliest urban public spaces.
Post Office Square
13. Successful public spaces attract people.
The city’s greatest attraction is people.
Portland, Oregon’s Pioneer Square
14. What attracts people to public space?
Sometimes simple things: Like a place to sit.
Portland, Oregon’s Pioneer Square
15. What attracts people to public space?
Sometimes simple things: Like a place to sit.
Times Square, NYC. The new TKTS stairway.
16. What attracts people to public space?
People!
Before After
Broadway at Times Square. Now car-free.
17. Seating in public space can be movable and temporary.
In fact, people like that a lot.
Broadway at Times Square. Now car-free.
18. Management and programming of public space is very important.
New York City’s Bryant Park
Nobody steals the chairs!
19. The City is the original interactive media.
New York City’s Herald Square
20. Great public spaces facilitate exchange along the edges of the
space.
Piazza del Campo, Siena, Italy.
21. Good public spaces are built with human senses, speeds and scale
in mind.
Beyond about 100 meters we can’t easily see or talk to each other.
A space no longer feels human-scale.
29. The Casey Overpass was built to “bust a bottleneck” – to relieve
traffic congestion.
Boston Globe, December 2, 1951.
Did it work? Did Boston traffic get better after 1953?
30. The Casey Overpass was built to defend JP from Soviet nuclear
attack.
“This will be one of the most vital projects from the standpoint of civil
defense, and also for the whole defense effort. In case of attack on
Boston it would be an evacuation route.” – MDC Chair Edgar F. Copell
31. So, now it’s time to defend JP once again.
I-95 Community Protest Mural.
Memorial Drive at the Boston University Bridge.