Activating Columbia Road: Reframing a Missing Link

Following this research process our analysis
revealed three major themes:
• Framing & Anchoring: While the historic Olmsted
connection is a big draw for architects and
planners, it does not take into account current
residents’ wants and needs. Similarly, the
communities surrounding Columbia Road do
not identify with the “Columbia Road corridor”
as a distinct place or cohesive community.
• Siloed Interests and Agencies: The separate
jurisdictions and goals among city agencies,
planning processes, adjacent neighborhoods,
and community interests complicate the
process of addressing such a geographically
expansive and socially complex corridor like
Columbia Road.
• Community Engagement: The majority of the
processes behind the primary documents
included a community component. However,
community engagement has yet to be done
in a way that is corridor-wide, multi-lingual, and
approachable for all residents.
These findings have lead us to make the following
recommendations. First and foremost, we believe
there is a need to demystify the idea of the
Emerald Necklace and to reframe the purpose and
motivations behind the Columbia Road project.
We recommend moving away from this narrative
and instead using community wants and needs
to drive the decisions made for Columbia Road.
Through a robust community engagement process,
residents’ thoughts could provide a compelling,
and more relevant, narrative for Columbia Road.
Our research showed a significant opportunity
to improve all modes of transportation along
the corridor, as well as climate responsiveness,
placemaking, and environmental health factors.
Once the project is reframed, the engagement
process can follow. In order to ensure that
the project will serve the best interests of
the surrounding neighborhoods, community
engagement processes must work across
neighborhood boundaries, within related planning
processes, and in collaboration with multiple
city departments. We recommend enhancing
communication between planning projects,
such as those for Franklin and Moakley Park, and
integrating those projects into the community
engagement process for Columbia Road. This
includes working collaboratively with the MBTA to
dispel concerns of competing transit modes.
Lastly, we recommend creating and using
multilingual outreach materials for all community
engagement activities, building relationships with
trusted community stakeholders, and collaborating
with key entities along the corridor to ensure that
the project will meet the needs of people who
currently live on or around Columbia Road. We
believe this expanded scope, combined with a
comprehensive engagement process, will provide
the City with the public input and support needed
to push this project toward implementation.
The factors that make the Columbia Road corridor
a challenge to tackle - its history, diversity, high
volume traffic, and sheer length - are the same
factors that will make an eventual redesign
that much more impactful. A redesign has the
potential to improve mobility access, public health
outcomes, climate resiliency, and open space
access. Our team hopes that after years of related
planning and conceptualizing, the City of Boston
can use this synthesized report to reframe, reflect,
and focus in on this project.
We also recommend thoughtfully questioning
the motives for this project before proceeding
with any redesign of Columbia Road. Defining
who this project is for, why it is important for the
project to move forward, and how it should be
framed will ensure that the redesign will serve the
contemporary needs of the corridor rather than
simply follow the trajectory of a historical plan.