Envisioning Lower Allston’s future: Contested spaces at the margins of Harvard University’s expansion

Anyone who walks, bikes, rides a bus or a car around Lower Allston today cannot avoid noticing the extent to which the neighborhood is changing and being rebuilt. Changes in global education markets have motivated Harvard University’s expansion in the neighborhood, an expansion that caters to the research and professional interests of the global creative class. With compliance from the leadership of the City of Boston, Harvard is moving ahead with its ambitious campus expansion. Through a close analysis to master plans, maps and publicly available documentation, this thesis explores the relationship between Lower Allston’s main urban development actors—the neighbors, Harvard University and the government of Boston—and analyzes each actor’s visions for the neighborhood’s future. When every single acre of land in Boston has been covered by modern classroom spaces, innovative entrepreneurship labs, and pristine landscaping… where will the people live?

Name thesis:degree_name

Master

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Urban Studies and Planning

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2021

Author dc:creator

• Grimaldi, Andrea

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Bunten, Devin Michelle

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted
• Copyright retained by author(s)

Licence dc:rights.uri

• https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-EDU/1.0/

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/140009

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/140009