Mixing It Up: Evolving Kendall Square
Additional fee, registration required.
Kendall Square, the "most innovative square mile on earth," is one of the city of Cambridge's great success stories. Yet its initial development was a product of the postwar urban renewal movement, resulting in an urban office park district.
Over the past two decades, the city, Cambridge Redevelopment Authority, MIT, and developers have collaborated to transform Kendall Square into a vibrant, mixed-use community through the introduction of varied uses, cohesive and context-sensitive development, and investment in parks and the public realm. This tour will explore tactics and strategies for retrofitting single-use districts to reimagine them as rich, integrated neighborhoods.
Kendall Square, the "most innovative square mile on earth," is one of the city of Cambridge's great success stories. Yet its initial development was a product of the postwar urban renewal movement, resulting in an urban office park district.
Over the past two decades, the city, Cambridge Redevelopment Authority, MIT, and developers have collaborated to transform Kendall Square into a vibrant, mixed-use community through the introduction of varied uses, cohesive and context-sensitive development, and investment in parks and the public realm. This tour will explore tactics and strategies for retrofitting single-use districts to reimagine them as rich, integrated neighborhoods.
Learning Objectives
- Explore strategies for pioneering successful mixed-use infill development in legacy single-use districts to transform them into more diverse communities.
- Discover how designers, institutions, developers, and municipalities can align their goals and collaborate on long-term district master plans that produce mutually beneficial outcomes.
- Learn how to collaborate with municipalities and public agencies to design and realize transformative public realm and open space improvements.
- Examine successful strategies for retrofitting auto-centric postwar urban renewal planning into walkable, vibrant, mixed-use neighborhoods that are sensitively integrated into their context.
- Melissa Peters, AICP
Chief of Planning Strategy and Acting Assistant City Manager for Community Development, City of Cambridge - Tom Evans
Executive Director - Cambridge Redevelopment Authority - Charles Sullivan
Executive Director - Cambridge Historical Commission - Benjamin Lavery
Director, Real Estate Development - MIT Investment Management Company (MITIMCo)