BSLA Project Information
Executive Summary
Motivation for the Project
Urban green spaces play a critical role in enhancing environmental sustainability, public health, and biodiversity, particularly in dense cities like Boston. These spaces help mitigate challenges such as pollution, urban heat islands, and lack of accessible recreational areas. However, despite their importance, there is no standardized tool for assessing how well these spaces contribute to both ecological and social goals. To address this, the Boston Society of Landscape Architects (BSLA) sponsored this project to develop a comprehensive framework to evaluate the success of landscape architecture projects in Boston. The goal is to provide stakeholders with a practical tool to assess the environmental and social impacts of green spaces and make informed decisions on their design and management.
Project Goal
The primary objective of this project was to create a robust framework for evaluating landscape architecture projects in Boston. This framework was designed to assess how green spaces contribute to sustainability, resilience, and human enrichment. The framework is intended to be practical, providing a clear and concise tool for evaluating green spaces in terms of their environmental benefits, longevity, social health impacts, and accessibility. Ultimately, the goal was to help stakeholders ensure that Boston’s green spaces are not only aesthetically pleasing but also environmentally sustainable and beneficial for public health.
Methods
We conducted a literature review of existing landscape performance systems and interviewed 10 landscape architects, urban planners, and environmental experts. These interviews provided insights into the technical and social criteria used to assess landscape architecture projects. In addition, we conducted site visits to five major parks in Boston—Martin’s Park, Pier 4, Post Office Square, North Meadow on the Greenway, and Boston City Hall Plaza—where we applied our framework to evaluate the parks based on criteria such as sustainability, biodiversity, accessibility, and social engagement. The feedback from these visits informed iterative improvements to the framework.
Results and Deliverables
The final product is a two-part framework that assesses green spaces based on Human Enrichment and Sustainability and Resilience. The Human Enrichment section evaluates metrics such as physical and mental health benefits, safety, and community engagement, while the
Sustainability and Resilience section focuses on environmental performance, biodiversity, stormwater management, and material longevity. Parks are scored on a 1-5 scale, with a total score that reflects their overall performance across these metrics. The framework provides a visual, color-coded system that makes it easy to assess how well each park is meeting its goals. This tool will help stakeholders prioritize improvements and ensure that parks contribute meaningfully to the health and sustainability of the city.
Recommendations
- Broader Testing and Application
While our framework was successfully applied to five parks of varying sizes and designs, we recommend broader testing across more diverse park types. Future iterations of this framework should focus on parks in underserved neighborhoods or areas with limited access to green spaces. By doing so, the framework can be further refined to address the unique challenges these parks face, such as limited budgets, smaller spaces, and higher levels of environmental stress.
- Enhanced Metrics for Biodiversity and Longevity
Our interviews with landscape architects and environmental experts highlighted the importance of long-term ecological sustainability. We recommend that future versions of the framework include more specific guidelines for assessing biodiversity and the durability of materials used in park construction. For example, including more detailed criteria for evaluating native versus non-native species and the long-term maintenance requirements for different materials will improve the accuracy of park assessments.
- Integration of Social Programming and Community Engagement
Social programming, such as community events and educational initiatives, was identified as a critical factor in fostering a sense of belonging and ownership among park users. We recommend that future evaluations place greater emphasis on the role of community engagement in park success. By incorporating measures of how often parks are used for social activities and how they promote community cohesion, the framework can more effectively capture the social value of green spaces.
- Standardization and Continued Refinement
To ensure the framework is widely adopted, we recommend further standardization of the scoring system and metrics. By developing clear definitions for each metric and providing standardized methods for data collection (such as survey tools for assessing mental health benefits), future users of the framework will be able to apply it consistently across different contexts. Additionally, ongoing feedback from users should be incorporated into future updates to ensure that the framework remains relevant and responsive to emerging trends in urban landscape design and sustainability.