Roxbury has played a central role in Boston’s long legacy of racially (in)just city building, housing development, infrastructure and public realm investments, and economic development. A historic district that once housed the Boston’s bourgeoises, earliest streetcar lines and suburbs, and welcomed numerous waves of different immigrant groups over time, Roxbury has also witnessed a disproportionate share of 20th century Modernist planning failures, including targeted redlining, eminent domain, demolition, urban renewal, highway clearance, subway removal, etc. Despite the spatial and social scars that these interventions have left, Roxbury’s built environment still exhibits traces of a different past—previously vibrant commercial ground floors, walkable streets, and transit-oriented communities. Roxbury also endures as vital neighborhood that is the heart of Boston’s African American and Black communities and home to Latino and other communities. Its built environment and communities remain caught between history, contemporary planning initiatives proposed by the city of Boston, and the neighborhood constituents’ own grass-roots initiatives that seek a stronger part in envisioning their future neighborhoods. Roxbury’s residents exhibit a history of organizing and alternative planning that has made the neighborhood a hotbed of planning innovation (e.g., DSNI, the Food Project, Fairmount Innovation Lab, etc.).
While much of the recent urban development focus on Roxbury has centered on new housing related challenges (e.g. gentrification, displacement, historic injustices of urban renewal and social/affordable housing models), there has been less emphasis on Roxbury’s community-facing commercial, cultural and social public places. This practicum will work with Roxbury and Boston District 7 City Councilor Tania Fernandes Anderson and other community leaders and activists to examine the challenges and opportunities for improving the streets, squares, and shops in Roxbury. Enabling the growth and prosperity of small, locally owned businesses along the city streets and public spaces presents opportunities for racially-just and locally targeted wealth building. These opportunities are not only limited to the area’s main streets or squares, but also hyper-local street-corners, known places, and quotidian destinations for foot-traffic, such as bus stops, schools, churches, and public institutions. Community facing street commerce—retail, food, service, entertainment, and cultural amenities—not only offer economic opportunities to the area’s residents, but also foster social interaction and community building in the public realm. Furthermore, fostering opportunities to access corner-stores, squares, neighborhood centers, and main streets on foot, without requiring vehicular travel, presents critical opportunities for decarbonize transportation emissions, reducing traffic hazards, and improving air and noise quality along the district’s streets. We will also examine how city investments into better sidewalks, crossings, and public spaces in and around Roxbury’s community assets can improve day-to-day access to neighborhood opportunities. In short, the practicum will examine how jointly improving the small, community-oriented amenities, and non-motorized access to and around amenities, can address both racial justice and environmental sustainability goals in Roxbury.
This class can fulfill a studio option as part of the Urban Design Certificate requirements.