Creating High Quality Open Spaces
Thursday, May 19, 2022
The last two years have highlighted the importance of access to outdoor open space. This is especially true since Cambridge is one of the most densely populated cities in the country, and estimated population growth over the past decade has outpaced expansion of public open spaces. In FY22, the City updated its state Open Space and Recreation Plan, applying an equity lens to criteria that include park distribution and access, park conditions, environmental benefits, and public health, to establish an action plan for Cambridge’s open space network. This planning process included a community questionnaire in which a majority of respondents expected their increased use of use of open space to continue into the future. This information will help guide future park and open space improvements so that the benefits of open space are shared equitably across Cambridge.
In FY22, the City completed construction on several significant park and open space projects. Timothy J. Toomey, Jr. Park in East Cambridge features a new playground, dog run, and park green. The Louis A. DePasquale Universal Design Playground at Danehy Park serves as a model for an inclusive playground designed for visitors of all abilities to play together. Renovations at Glacken Field included improvements to the field area, a perimeter loop path, improved connections to existing courts, and a fully renovated tot lot. The Watertown-Cambridge Greenway provides a new multi-use path connection between Fresh Pond Reservation and Watertown. A new reading garden at the O’Connell Library in East Cambridge transformed a previously under-utilized space into a new resource for patrons and residents.
Construction at the new Triangle Park in East Cambridge is expected to be completed in FY23. Renovations to Sennott Park in the Port neighborhood will continue, and construction will begin at the new Binney Street Park. Construction is also expected to begin on improvements to the Peabody School Playground. Community processes for redesign of Hoyt Field in the Riverside neighborhood, Raymond Park in Neighborhood Nine, and Rafferty Park in Cambridge Highlands neighborhood will begin.
