Client: A Better City

Year: 2019-2020

Project Team

• A Better City

• Merritt Chase (Landscape Architects)

• Roslindale Village Main Streets

• City of Boston

*Work completed at A Better City

Birch Street in Roslindale Village is a narrow one-way street with 11 businesses and 12 parking spots. In 2018, A Better City began working with Roslindale Village Main Street (RVMS), Roslindale Village business owners and community partners, Merritt Chase, and the City of Boston to transform Birch Street into a pedestrianized plaza.

On eight separate days in the summer of 2018, Birch Street was closed for one-day “Open Birch” events, which helped to gain community and business owner support for the project. The one-day events laid the groundwork for the City of Boston to develop a permanent tactical plaza. Over nine months in 2019, the Project Team engaged business owners, developed the site design, hosted a one-week pop-up, and worked to get the project approved by the City of Boston.