A 14-foot median with empty planters on Columbia Road, Dorchester (Next City) Columbia Road is a 2.2 mile stretch of road that runs between Franklin Park and Moakley Park in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood. Lined with apartment buildings, businesses, churches, libraries, health centers, and historic buildings, it is a busy corridor at any time of day. But when we take a closer look at the existing design of the road -- more than 100-foot+ wide, 14-foot wide medians without any greenery, unprotected bike lanes -- it becomes clear that the road may be creating more barriers than access points for people. Here are some of the comments we’ve heard from local residents: Continue reading

Route Options, Fairmount to Mattapan Greenway (click image to enlarge). Southwest Boston Community Development Corporation (SWBCDC) is an Emerald Network Greenway Partner actively working to expand access to open space for residents in Hyde Park. This summer, with the help of María de la Luz Lobos Martínez, a graduate student in landscape architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the Emerald Network embarked on a feasibility study to help SWBCDC demonstrate the potential of the Fairmount to Mattapan Greenway. The greenway is a direct effort to take action on the path proposed in the Go Boston 2030 plan and to supplement service improvements along the MBTA commuter rail Fairmount Line-- a goal of the 2014 Boston Plan’s Fairmount Indigo Corridor Plan.    Continue reading

Bostonians might be surprised to learn that we are not the only ones with an “Emerald Necklace”. The City of Cleveland, Ohio boasts a ring of parks with the same name. Intrigued, my wife Ann Marie and I set out to discover how Cleveland’s Emerald Necklace matched up with the original. Exploring Cleveland by bike seemed like the best way to go about it. Continue reading

We recently co-hosted an open house with the Mystic River Watershed Association and Stoss Landscape Urbanism. Our goal was to solicit feedback on the proposed Charlestown Lower Mystic Greenway which would connect existing sections of the Boston Harborwalk and provide increased open space and waterfront access. Continue reading

In this guest post, Malden resident Monique Ching provides her impressions of the Malden River Walk, and Mystic River Watershed Association's Greenways Director Amber Christoffersen responds.  Continue reading