Comments on: Boston Beyond the Souvenir Stands http://www.urbanphoto.net/blog/2008/10/23/boston-beyond-the-souvenir-stands/ Exploring urban life through word and photography Wed, 08 Feb 2012 18:47:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Christopher Szabla http://www.urbanphoto.net/blog/2008/10/23/boston-beyond-the-souvenir-stands/comment-page-1/#comment-241831 Christopher Szabla Sat, 15 Nov 2008 21:13:27 +0000 http://www.urbanphoto.net/blog/2008/10/23/boston-beyond-the-souvenir-stands/#comment-241831 It's true that, as we discussed when you came here, Boston has become something of a boutique city. San Francisco has experienced more or less the same phenomenon; it's almost as if the wax and wane of the economic circumstances has been exported to satellite cities, while the center city absorbs all the regional prosperity it bearably can. In many ways the phenomenon has even accelerated over the past year; projects reminiscent of pro-capitalist slum-clearing efforts in mainland China (as opposed to the social welfare motivations that resulted in Government Center and the West End) are displacing blocks of grimy early 20th century storefronts in Chinatown and Downtown Crossing for glitzy condoplexes. Haymarket retains its vibe, but it's somewhat unreal now, crammed up against the old Blackstone Block while the void of the empty, suburban landscaping on the euphemistically named "Greenway" stretch out beyond it. The Central Artery, for all its autocentricity, lent the city a certain crampedness that elevated its sense of importance: look how crowded this place is, it suggested, because it's a place everyone wants to be. The Greenway, by contrast, idealizes idleness, presents emptiness, purports to brim with life but sentences a large swathe of the central city to urban death. It’s true that, as we discussed when you came here, Boston has become something of a boutique city. San Francisco has experienced more or less the same phenomenon; it’s almost as if the wax and wane of the economic circumstances has been exported to satellite cities, while the center city absorbs all the regional prosperity it bearably can.

In many ways the phenomenon has even accelerated over the past year; projects reminiscent of pro-capitalist slum-clearing efforts in mainland China (as opposed to the social welfare motivations that resulted in Government Center and the West End) are displacing blocks of grimy early 20th century storefronts in Chinatown and Downtown Crossing for glitzy condoplexes.

Haymarket retains its vibe, but it’s somewhat unreal now, crammed up against the old Blackstone Block while the void of the empty, suburban landscaping on the euphemistically named “Greenway” stretch out beyond it. The Central Artery, for all its autocentricity, lent the city a certain crampedness that elevated its sense of importance: look how crowded this place is, it suggested, because it’s a place everyone wants to be.

The Greenway, by contrast, idealizes idleness, presents emptiness, purports to brim with life but sentences a large swathe of the central city to urban death.

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