Equity and the City
Inspiring Design: Creating Beautiful, Just, and Resilient Places in America

Hosted in partnership with the Northeastern University School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs and the Kitty and Michael Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy as a part of its 2021 Spring Myra Kraft Open Classroom, Inspiring Design: Creating Beautiful, Just, and Resilient Places in America explores the role of design in cities.

The series is presented in partnership with the Association of Architecture Organizations, Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, Boston Society for Architecture, and the Boston Society of Landscape Architects.

We kicked off the Inspiring Design: Creating Beautiful, Just, and Resilient Places in America series with a conversation with Dr. Karilyn Crockett, the City of Boston’s first Chief of Equity. We discussed strategies for embedding equity into urban planning and development in Boston and other cities. We also considered observations and lessons learned from her research and book People Before Highways: Boston Activists, Urban Planners, and a New Movement for City Making, which chronicles the 1960s era grassroots movement that halted the construction of I-95 through the City of Boston and had a lasting impact on geographic and political change in the city. The initiative led to the creation of Southwest Corridor Project (1989 RBA Silver Medalist), the expansion of public transit and creation of a new greenway connecting neighborhoods with downtown.

Learning Objectives:

  • Identify and describe approaches to addressing equity in cities.
  • Understand and describe how inclusive planning processes and development projects can address community welfare and affect economic, environmental, and social change.
  • Discuss the value of engaging in collaborative partnerships in the planning, design, and development of inclusive, community-based projects.
  • Identify and describe the lasting impacts of the citizen-led effort to halt the highway and expansion of public transit along a new greenway in Boston.

This session was recorded on Wednesday, January 20th, 2021 as part of Northeastern University’s Myra Kraft Open Classroom 2021 Spring series. ASLA and APA continuing education credits are available thanks to partnerships with Boston Society of Landscape Architects and the American Planning Association, Ohio Chapter.


Panelists
Dr. Karilyn Crockett is the City of Boston’s first Chief of Equity, a Cabinet-level position Mayor Walsh established to embed equity and racial justice into all City planning, operations, and work. Dr. Crockett most recently worked as a Lecturer of Public Policy & Urban Planning at MIT, and is the author of People Before Highways: Boston Activists, Urban Planners, and a New Movement for City Making

 

Anne-Marie Lubenau (moderator), FAIA, is an architect, educator and advocate for excellence in urban design and planning. She focuses on expanding the role of architects in shaping cities by engaging people in the process of design and increasing understanding about the built environment and its impact on our lives.

 

Ted Landsmark (facilitator) is a Distinguished Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs; Director, Kitty and Michael Dukakis Center for Urban and Regional Policy at Northeastern University.

 

 

RESOURCES

Southwest Corridor Project (1989 RBA Silver Medalist)

  • Dr. Karilyn Crockett’s People Before Highways chronicles the 1960s era grassroots movement that halted the construction of I-95 through the City of Boston and had a lasting impact on geographic and political change in the city. The initiative led to the creation of the Southwest Corridor Project (1989 RBA Silver Medalist), the expansion of public transit and creation of a new greenway connecting neighborhoods with downtown.

People Before Highways: Boston Activists, Urban Planners, and a New Movement for City Making

  • The book People Before Highways: Boston Activists, Urban Planners, and a New Movement for City Making links archival research, ethnographic fieldwork, and oral history. Karilyn Crockett offers a ground-level analysis of the social, political, and environmental significance of a local anti-highway protest and its lasting national implications. The story of how an unlikely multiracial coalition of urban and suburban residents, planners, and activists emerged to stop an interstate highway is one full of suspenseful twists and surprises, including for the actors themselves.

Dr. Karilyn Crockett appointed as Chief of Equity for the City of Boston

Courtesy of Isabel Leon, Mayor’s Office, City of Boston