Placemaking Network

Intimate Public Spaces in Greater Boston: Landscape Architecture as Placemaking

Join Clara Batchelor, Principal of CBA Landscape Architects, to share the stories of select connective landscape designs serving adults and children in greater Boston. Particular attention will be paid to the narrative contexts and evolution of open spaces and parks, such as the Sidney Research Campus Public Plazas in Cambridge and the Paris Street Playground in East Boston. Find out about the impetus for redesigning the Deanna Cremin Playground in Somerville and Cambridge’s Galaxy Park at the eastern terminus of Main Street in Kendall Square. Some of the issues to be discussed are: What’s special about the land use or evolution of the project? When private businesses were involved, how did the public and private partnerships evolve and impact the design? For public parks, how was the community brought into the design process? How have the projects been received?

Clara Couric Batchelor, L. Arch. established CBA Landscape Architects in 1985, focusing the practice on urban public spaces from plazas and parks to playgrounds and schoolyards. These landscapes range in size from pocket parks to multi-acre, multi-use open spaces primarily in eastern Massachusetts. Dozens of CBA's projects are located throughout Boston in almost every neighborhood including Dorchester, Roxbury, Mattapan, the South End, East Boston, Back Bay, and Beacon Hill; and cities and towns throughout Metropolitan Boston. CBA designs are site-specific, drawing inspiration from the cultural, natural, and man-made elements of the land and the community. CBA has collaborated with artists on many projects and takes pride in having delivered exemplary public work and service to communities. CBA and its clients believe strongly in the role of quality open space in inspiring and promoting the public good, making this principle the foundation of practice. All of CBA’s public work includes extensive community outreach to help generate ideas, present alternative designs to the public for input and consideration, then crafting a final design that helps to generate consensus and support from a myriad of stakeholders.

1.5 LU/HSW AIA credits are available.