The Government Center: Boston, Massachusetts: Its Planning, Construction, and Importance to Boston and to Urban Renewal

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to review the planning and construction of the Government Center of Boston, Massachusetts. As the first project in a general plan for the city of Boston that originally called for ten projects, the Government Center is particularly significant. This significance, its relationship to Boston's general plan, is an important and essential part of this paper, and warrants a great deal of discussion concerning Boston's urban renewal prorgram. The Government Center project is important to urban renewal because it has been one of the most successful efforts in that field. Its main coordinator, Edward J. Logue, was also the head of the New Haven, Connecticut, program, an equally successful endeavor. The structural links between these programs are largely the result of Logue's involvement and offer a guideline for urban renewal work. At the conclusion of this paper, a number of prerequisites for success in this field are suggested, based upon these structural links. [From Preface]