Abstract
These materials document CUDS’ involvement with the City of Boston’s Neighborhood Partnership Initiative in the late 1990s. The initiatives sought to restructure distressed neighborhoods and revitalize districts in Boston through community organization, new economic activity and housing improvements, including a redesign for Boston’s main streets.
Neighborhoods included Washington/Grove St in West Roxbury, and Washington St/West Roxbury Parkway in Roslindale. (Roslindale is a primarily residential neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, bordered by Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park, West Roxbury and Mattapan.)
Excerpt
[Excerpt: Overview]
Boston, MA:
“Municipalities worldwide have successfully engaged community groups in structured partnerships based on joint definitions of needs and opportunities. Local initiatives programs support and encourage civic leadership and all of them involve a program of shared financial commitments that leverage public and private resources. In the case of Boston, the city and its development agencies created an array of programs to address the needs of the city’s distressed neighborhoods and utilized collaborative approaches that build upon the economic, social, and physical assets in a community.
Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development (DND) Neighborhood Partnership Initiative (NPI) is an example of a model program that worked actively with neighborhood residents and community organizations to develop coordinated plans for neighborhood preservation and housing improvements. The NPI ended in 1996 and evolved into Boston’s Main Street Program, another partnership program that focuses on the revitalization of business districts in 19 neighborhoods. In Main Streets, the city provides seed funding for a coordinator who works with a board representing local businesses and NGOs in the neighborhood.”
The Neighborhood Partnership Initiative:
“In the 1980s, DND redefined its role from a capital planning agency to a community development agency managing a number of diverse programs. The DND’s goal was to strategically invest resources to build up the strength and vitality of neighborhoods and work directly with community-based organizations to coordinate and implement public improvements, housing, open space, and youth social programs. The Neighborhood Partnership Initiative grew out of a review of existing programs working at the neighborhood level that were not having their desired impact and the realization that DND needed to develop a more focused strategy for allocating scarce public resources.”
| Project Year: | 1997 |
| Project Type: | Case Study |
| Geographic Regions: | Boston, Massachusetts, USA (South Boston, South End, Roxbury, West Roxbury, Washington Street, and Roslindale) |
| Reports: | |
| Authors: | John Driscoll |
| Sponsors: | CUDS (Center for Urban Development Studies at the Harvard Graduate School of Design) |
| Categories: | Informal Settlements and Urban Upgrading |
| ID: | 1997_05_001 |
Related I2UD Projects
Related by – Work in Boston, Massachusetts
ITP 1994: “Revitalization in Older Urban Spaces,” Upham’s Corner, Dorchester, Boston, South Boston, and New Haven (US); Montpellier (France); and Cork (Ireland) with Case Studies, International Education Programs, 1994
Reuse Plans for Boston’s Navy Yards and Military Bases: “Balanced Growth Reuse Strategies for Military Base Conversions,” Boston, USA, 1993-1996
City of Boston’s “Neighborhood Partnership Initiative” & “Main Street Program,” Urban Revitalization for Roslindale and West Roxbury, Boston, United States, 1997
ITP 1997: “South Boston Metropolitan Area Community Housing,” Case Studies from Boston, Massachusetts, International Training Programs, 1997
IEP August 2000: “Boston, Massachusetts: Strategic Plans and Community Participation,” International Education Programs, 2000
Seminar on “Partnerships and Urban Development in Older Neighborhoods in Paris and Boston,” with Centre de Recherches sur l’Habitat (CRH), April 2004
ITP 1982-2000: Survey of Modules for International Training Program Seminars