The Boston Planning & Development Agency (BPDA), formerly the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA), is a

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

public agency that serves as the municipal planning and development agency for

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, working on both housing and commercial developments. As an agency concerned with

urban planning Urban planning, also known as town planning, city planning, regional planning, or rural planning, is a technical and political process that is focused on the development and design of land use and the built environment, including air, water, ...

, the BPDA does not consider requests for

zoning Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...

variances from individual property owners. These are heard by the city's own Zoning Board of Appeals, a seven-person body appointed by the

Mayor of Boston The mayor of Boston is the head of the municipal government in Boston, Massachusetts. Boston has a mayor–council government. Boston's mayoral elections are nonpartisan (as are all municipal elections in Boston), and elect a mayor to a four- ...

. Some consider the BPDA's roles as both real estate owner and developer, and approval authority over private development projects, to be a

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

Projects

One of the first projects the BRA took on was the demolition of the West End of Boston, in an infamous

urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...

project that generated a considerable negative reaction locally and across the country. At the same time, nineteenth-century buildings around

Scollay Square 300px, Scollay Square, Boston, 19th century (after September 1880) 350px, Scollay Square, Decoration Day, 19th century (after September 1880) Scollay Square (c. 1838–1962) was a vibrant city square in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It was na ...

were demolished to make way for the new Government Center.FUP, web
Many consider the finished project (which includes

Boston City Hall Boston City Hall is the seat of city government of Boston, Massachusetts. It includes the offices of the mayor of Boston and the Boston City Council. The current hall was built in 1968 to assume the functions of the Old City Hall. It is a con ...

) an eyesore, and the surrounding large brick plaza as an uncomfortable place to be.Government Center Boston
/ref> Another urban renewal project was the

Prudential Tower The Prudential Tower, also known as the Prudential Building or, colloquially, The Pru,subscription required'The Pru' everyone calls it: a resigned shrug of a name, as flat and uninflected as the wan moue its pronunciation requires." is an Inter ...

development over the

Boston and Albany Railroad The Boston and Albany Railroad was a railroad connecting Boston, Massachusetts to Albany, New York, later becoming part of the New York Central Railroad system, Conrail, and CSX Transportation. The line is currently used by CSX for freight. Pa ...

right-of-way in

Back Bay Back Bay is an officially recognized neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, built on reclaimed land in the Charles River basin. Construction began in 1859, as the demand for luxury housing exceeded the availability in the city at the time, and t ...

; as part of this project, Mechanics Hall on

Huntington Avenue Huntington Avenue is a secondary thoroughfare in the city of Boston, Massachusetts, beginning at Copley Square, and continuing west through the Back Bay, Fenway, Longwood, and Mission Hill neighborhoods. Huntington Avenue is signed as Route 9 ...

was taken by the city using

eminent domain Eminent domain (United States, Philippines), land acquisition (India, Malaysia, Singapore), compulsory purchase/acquisition (Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, United Kingdom), resumption (Hong Kong, Uganda), resumption/compulsory acquisition (Austr ...

and demolished in 1959. The BRA also collaborated with the

Massachusetts Turnpike Authority Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

and Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy on various development projects such as the

Rose Kennedy Greenway The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway is a linear park located in several Downtown Boston neighborhoods. It consists of landscaped gardens, promenades, plazas, fountains, art, and specialty lighting systems that stretch over one mile through Chin ...

, which was developed atop the

Big Dig The Central Artery/Tunnel Project (CA/T Project), commonly known as the Big Dig, was a megaproject in Boston that rerouted the Central Artery of Interstate 93 (I-93), the chief highway through the heart of the city, into the 1.5-mile (2.4& ...

. The BRA owns real estate throughout the city and together with community participation through planning initiatives, issues Requests for Proposals as part of the land disposition process in order to achieve neighborhood-based community development goals. Another example of the BRA's work involves collaboration with the State Coastal Zone Management Department for waterfront planning and redevelopment of privately owned and MassPort-owned properties. An example of municipal harbor planning involves the "East Boston Municipal Harbor Plan" where properties of varied ownership along the waterfront are currently being developedPlanning Initiatives – Boston Redevelopment Authority
and

Fort Point Channel Fort Point Channel is a maritime channel separating South Boston from downtown Boston, Massachusetts, feeding into Boston Harbor. The south part of it has been gradually filled in for use by the South Bay rail yard and several highways (specif ...

development. The BRA has also undertaken improvements on Columbia Road in Dorchester, a narrow stretch of green space that

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co- ...

once envisioned as

The Dorchesterway The Dorchesterway was a parkway planned by 19th century landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted to be a continuation of the Emerald Necklace park network in Boston, Massachusetts. This plan, however, was never implemented. History Olmsted's vis ...

, the final link in the

Emerald Necklace The Emerald Necklace consists of a chain of parks linked by parkways and waterways in Boston and Brookline, Massachusetts. It was designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, and gets its name from the way the planned chain appear ...

park system. Heart of the City Project, Center for Urban and Regional Policy,

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

and Northeastern University

History

Officially a "public body politic and corporate," the BRA was established by the

Massachusetts General Court The Massachusetts General Court (formally styled the General Court of Massachusetts) is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The name "General Court" is a hold-over from the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, ...

and the

Boston City Council The Boston City Council is the legislative branch of government for the city of Boston, Massachusetts. It is made up of 13 members: 9 district representatives and 4 at-large members. Councillors are elected to two-year terms and there is no ...

in 1957, superseding the authority of the

Boston Housing Authority The Boston Housing Authority (BHA) is a public agency of the city of Boston, Massachusetts that provides subsidized public housing to low- and moderate-income families and individuals. In the federal government model of the United States Depart ...

. Its primary goal is to work with Boston businesses and developers in order to provide direction for development in the city of Boston. Its statutory authority was set forth in the

Massachusetts General Laws The Massachusetts General Laws is a codification of many of the statutes of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The Commonwealth's laws are promulgated by an elected bicameral ("two-chamber") legislative body, the Massachusetts General Court. ...

br>chapter 121B, section 4
and amended by the Session Laws of 1960, chapter 652, section 12. The agency's redevelopment authority includes the jurisdiction to buy and sell

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

, acquire real estate through

, and grant tax concessions to encourage commercial and residential development.BRA History
/ref> On September 27, 2016, Boston Mayor

Marty Walsh Martin Joseph Walsh (born April 10, 1967) is an American politician and former union official. He has been the 29th United States Secretary of Labor since March 23, 2021. A Democrat, he previously served as the 54th mayor of Boston from 2014, ...

changed the name of the development agency from the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) to the Boston Planning and Development Agency (BPDA). This change was part of a broader goal to make city government more transparent and to put a friendlier face to a bureaucratic agency that rules upon major construction in the city.

Michelle Wu Michelle Wu ( zh, t=吳弭, first=t; born January 14, 1985) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the mayor of Boston, mayor of Boston, Massachusetts since 2021. She is a member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party ...

promised during her successful mayoral campaign to abolish the BPDA. In February 2022, she asked the city council to terminate some of the agency's planning urban renewal districts.Wu says she’ll wind down Boston’s urban renewal districts. Here’s what that means.
/ref>

References

External links

Boston Planning and Development Agency website

Google news archive
Articles related to the BRA
Flickr
Photo of Muhammad Ali-Salaam, Deputy Director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, 2008
Flickr
Photo of Kairos Shen, Director of Planning, Boston Redevelopment Authority, 2010
Flickr
Photo of Clarence Jones, Chairman of Boston Redevelopment Authority, 2010 {{Authority control Urban planning in the United States Organizations based in Boston Government of Boston Government agencies established in 1957 1957 establishments in Massachusetts