Jamaica Pond
Victory Gardens
Emerald Necklace
Designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead in 1878, The Emerald Necklace is Boston’s prized seven mile long linkage of parks that gets its name from its apparent chain shape that hangs from the “neck” of the Boston Peninsula.
The Emerald Necklace with proposed Columbia Road (orange) and other major open spaces (Blue) within Boston.
Olmsted’s original vision for the park system would be winding walking paths along a gentle stream that would connect with small ponds that started with Boston Commons and ended at Castle Island. It began as a project aimed at cleaning up and controlling the marshy area of present day Backbay and The Fens. Olmsted believed that public parks are the “self-preserving instinct of civilization”, and were a great way to combat the evils that accompany urban dwelling.
Dorchesterway - Columbia Road (red)
But Olmsted's dream of a park system and trolley line along Columbia Road in Dorchester was never realized, and his vision of encircling Boston with parks and parkways was never fulfilled because of insufficient funding from the city of Boston and the opinion that the site was too crowded. In hindsight, these planning decisions were a product of racism because Boston refused to spend the money required to develop Columbia Rd, a low income, diverse neighborhood (known as redlining). While upper - middle class residents have benefited from these green spaces, today The Emerald Necklace ends at Franklin Park and the citizens of Dorchester don’t share these same advantages. Julian's “Dorchesterway” highlights his aspirations to design for underserved groups who don’t normally get considered when it comes to urban planning.
Supporting a vision of knitting together neighborhoods, by providing families and children a safer and easier access to open spaces, “Dorchesterway” proposes a 4 lane road divided by a protected nature pathway where its currently occupied by a hefty concrete median. Along “Dorchesterway”, Olmsted’s vision of connecting parks with parkways is embodied thru creating pockets of open spaces along Columbia Rd. With the intention of increasing levels of CO2 and reducing our concrete footprint in Boston, through the power of eminent domain, “Dorchesterway” would turn vacant buildings and parking lots into various programs.
Such functions of these spaces would include community centers, farmers markets, makerspaces, places for education and the arts. Promoting biodiversity, “Dorchesterway” encourages native plants and animals to thrive by creating nesting grounds during migration, apiaries for bees, or rain management through permaculture in a pastoral style.
A status report on The Emerald Necklace's Columbia Road