Public spaces define our identity
“For all its importance, the public realm isn’t lavished with the kind of attention and funding that private real estate development tends to attract. Paradoxically, the spaces that unite us are often afterthoughts, leftovers from development.”
Commonwealth magazine; demonstrations against white nationalism at the Boston Common.
In the midst of a recent wave of real estate development in Boston, I wrote about an obscure topic: an exhibition of historical maps at the Boston Public Library. Seeing these depictions of Boston triggered an immediate response. The streets, parks, and other public landscapes of the city are a needed common platform — needed more now than ever. Yet new development often overlooks the public realm, squeezing civic participation to the margins.
Writing in Commonwealth, the policy publication of Massachusetts, I argued for new investment and attention to the public realm during a critical moment. My work as a fellow at a major philanthropic institution demonstrated the necessity of this approach.