Reconsidering City Hall Plaza

Author(s): Shirley Kressel

Source: Landscape Architecture Magazine , MARCH 1999, Vol. 89, No. 3 (MARCH 1999), p.
136, 133
Published by: American Society of Landscape Architects

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44671857

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 Critic at large
Reconsidering City Hall Plaza
Do public/private partnerships really benefit the
BYpublic realm?
SHIRLEY KRESSEL

F WÊÊÊÊÊÊ or
WÊÊÊÊÊÊ or stewards of the natural
and social environments the
future of public open space is one
of the most urgent issues. Boston s
City Hall Plaza provides a com-
pelling case study in the privatiza-
tion of the public realm and some
lessons about the limits of public/
private partnerships in supporting
public space. With the selection of
the plazas redesign for a 1998
ASIA merit award, a closer look is
needed at both the meaning of the
events surrounding the plaza pro-
ject and at our role in design for the
public interest. The plaza is an 8.5-
acre forecourt for the 1960s-vintage
Government Center. Stark in de-
sign and under-maintained, it
nonetheless hosts scores of events
yearly: community functions, regional Plaza into a vacant lot, and removed zon- Administration, concerned with security
entertainment productions, trade shows, ing restrictions. A self-selected group of for their building, has delayed the pro-
and - most importantly - political activi- investors, the Trust for City Hall Plaza, ject. For months, secret negotiations
ties. It is Boston s most serviceable public Inc., including Bostons major corporate have proceeded to remove this obstacle.
space and our primary arena for civic life. interests - but no community representa- Currently the plaza's fate is unclear.
In 1994, the city announced an initia- tives - was designated as the redeveloper. The model for City Hall Plaza was Bos-
tive to improve the plaza. An "Ideas The plaza improvement became an ur- ton's Post Office Square, a much-heralded
Competition," drawing some 200 ban-renewal redevelopment project. but private open space, owned by a for-
entries, promised widespread, ongoing A public relations campaign was profit corporation of real estate interests
community participation in the redesign launched to persuade the public that the (including trust leaders). Post Office
but mandated "public/private partner- plaza is too big, that "edge definition" is Square - a 1 ,400-car garage decked by a
ships" to be "generators of a self- necessary just where the hotel is economi- park - has for ten years generated park-
sustaining system of constant investment cally feasible, and that only a hotel can ing revenues and enhanced property val-
in our public spaces." "animate" the space. A budget estimate ues for its investors. Its owners received
Shortly, the "solution" was announced was produced - before any design - to sizable public benefits in return for public
by City Hall: a 350-room hotel and a prove the need for this "economic engine." amenity commitments, but the design
700-car garage, occupying about one- The trust presented its plans at many pub- precluded programming of large public
third of the open space, and reconfiguring lic meetings but never responded to wide- events; and, while it is physically open, it
the rest. To expedite the development, spread protest - including open criticism is policed according to private policies. UJ
Q

public process was, by official agreement, by many local landscape architects - The promise of a "free" park like Post Q
Z

"fast-tracked." The Boston Redevelop- against the occupation of public land by Office Square, albeit a private one, has <

ment Authority quietly took the land private commercial uses.

<
blinded many public officials, lay citizens, UJ

from the City of Boston by eminent

2
Only the threat of litigation by the and designers to the impacts of privatiza- X
UJ

domain, effectively turning City Hall abutting Federal General Services tion. Moreover, it ( Continued on Page 133) <

Landscape Architecture | 136 | March 1999

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 Critic
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Shirley
Whatley Kresse
Boston, Massa

March 1

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