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Cambridge Riverfront Planning

What's Happening Now

Community Development staff have recently been studying the Charles Riverfront to build upon prior planning conducted by the City and the State and to create a cohesive vision for the riverfront in Cambridge.

In winter and spring of 2010, staff will be meeting with neighborhood and business groups, property owners, and the Planning Board to share a preliminary discussion of issues and opportunities, and to gather public input to inform the plan. In most cases, this discussion will be one of several agenda items at a meeting. For detailed agendas please contact the neighborhood/business groups directly.

Go to List of Neighborhood Organizations.

Additional meetings will be listed here as they are scheduled:

Study Description

The goal of the Cambridge Riverfront Planning is to expand the formal and informal use of the riverfront, explore destinations where people may linger and enjoy the river in addition to the active linear use, and realize the full potential for liveliness offered by this defining physical feature of our community and region. While Cantabrigians already appreciate the Charles as a unique regional resource, many obstacles (such as wide expanses of automobile traffic and lack of safe crossings) prevent easy access from abutting uses and neighborhoods, and detract from the enjoyment of arriving at the waterfront.

It is important to capitalize, now and in the future, upon opportunities to create stronger physical design relationships that could be lost without a focused plan for improvement along the river. The purpose of this plan will be to create a coordinated vision for how to realize more fully the original promise of the Charles River Basin in today’s context, to energize riverfront use, and to improve the relationship between the riverfront and Cambridge’s urban fabric: its streets, buildings, and parks - both new and old.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts (primarily under the aegis of the Department of Conservation and Recreation and the Massachusetts Highway Department) owns the water, most of the direct frontage on it, and Memorial Drive. However, the designs of a multitude of adjacent uses in Cambridge (MIT buildings, Harvard buildings, hotels, office buildings, housing, retail, etc.) influence how people get to the river, and how they use it.

While the City of Cambridge does not directly control much of the riverfront, the Riverfront Plan will aim to create a vision for an improved and active riverfront with better access to the rest of the City. It is expected that the plan will serve as a guiding document as riverfront uses are explored, adjoining parcels are redeveloped, and as opportunities for collaborations with the State and other property owners and stakeholders arise over the coming years.

Planning Documents

These files are in PDF format and require use of the free Adobe Acrobat viewer.

Additional Resources

For More Information

If you would like more information about Cambridge Riverfront planning please contact Iram Farooq, Senior Project Manager, at ifarooq@cambridgema.gov or 617/349-4606. The Community Development Department TTY line is 617/349-4621.

 

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