Anne joins Jay Monty (City of Everett), Wes Gordon (MBTA), and Julia Wallerce (MAPC) to reflect on the role of engagement in transforming Boston public transit. This lively presentation was part of a three-part series hosted by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy. “Tactical Public Transport” examined key lessons learned over the past decade of creative experimentation and bold demonstrations from the Boston region. Watch the recording here.

Supriya is joining Grayscale as our newest Project Manager! She received her MLA from the Harvard Graduate School of Design, and brings her research, design-build, ecological restoration, and participatory engagement experience to the team.

Mayor Michelle Wu and the Streets Cabinet announced a $44M investment along Blue Hill Avenue to better serve bus riders, create safer conditions for pedestrians and drivers, increase the tree canopy, and install new amenities for a more vibrant small business corridor. The new multimodal design will add a center running bus lane for the more than 37,000 bus riders who travel on Blue Hill Ave every weekday, and better define spaces for drivers and pedestrians creating a safer, calmer experience for everyone. Building directly on Grayscale’s work leading the Blue Hill Ave engagement campaign, the City and MBTA will work with the communities along Blue Hill Ave to design the corridor, block-by-block. Check out the Mayor’s press release here!

Are you committed to making positive community impacts through transformative urban planning and design? Are you looking to join a small, mighty, and growing team dedicated to participatory planning and civic design? If you are passionate about designing with purpose and contributing to impactful projects, we invite you to join us in shaping a future where design meets meaningful change! We are looking for summer interns in Urban Planning and Urban Design and a full-time Urban Planning & Design Project Manager. To learn more and apply, check out these links: (1) Urban Planning & Design PM; (2) Urban Planning Intern; (3) Urban Design Intern.

“The Action Plan for Franklin Park is not perfect. Much work is still needed to engage and resolve the many competing interests it surfaces. Yet it offers the best example the city has of a holistic vision since the park’s original design.” Read more at the Globe: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/12/25/opinion/boston-franklin-park-development-action-plan/

Yona Chung and Peter Rowe’s Design Thinking and Storytelling in Architecture, from Birkhauser press, is available for digital download and hardcover purchase. This book offers a systematic account of the process of designing in architecture. In short, design thinking is a way of knowing and enabling being in the world and leads to a better understanding of architecture.

LivableStreets returned to the Old South Meeting House to host the 13th 10-in-1 StreetTalk, featuring 10 speakers on 10 different topics regarding transit advocacy, climate justice, protecting greenways, equitable housing and land use, and more. Check out WGBH’s livestream recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWzo-HcacN0

Caroline has worked with Grayscale across a number of projects, including the High Line Network, Blue Hill Ave Transportation Action Plan, the Northeastern Institutional Master Plan, and more.

See the report on the project website: https://www.boston.gov/departments/transportation/blue-hill-avenue#project-materials. And listen to what community members have to say about the future of Blue Hill Ave on the Real Talk website: https://bhatap.portal.fora.io/

Check out the Trustees announcement: “The Trustees Presents Olmsted Now: Greater Boston’s Olmsted Bicentennial with Charles Eliot Conservationist of the Year Award”

Read more in Streetsblog Mass: “Residents Discuss the Future of Blue Hill Avenue’s Bus Lanes”

Learn more from the Boston Globe: “At 200, Frederick Law Olmsted Continues to Shape Public Space”

Stephen and Yona talk to students about the future of Burlington streets. Read more at Burlington City and Lake: “Getting There”

View the interview transcript: “Olmsted Now Committee of Neighborhoods: How it Began”

Check out the Harvard Magazine article here: “Shaping Cities”