ABSTRACT
This chapter dissects Central Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts—a predominantly commercial district that marks the confluence of several neighborhoods and also stands between the expanding campuses and real estate holdings of MIT and Harvard. As such, Central Square simultaneously caters to wide-ranging constituencies: demographically diverse residents (ranging from affluent to houseless), shoppers and diners, tech workers, worshipers, and commuters. Progressive city agencies and citizen groups—sometimes in concert and sometimes in conflict—have each insistently championed a vision of Central Square that includes all groups. Inclusion, as defined here, entails conscious attention to public space development, seen as both a process of engagement and as yielding places consciously programmed to accommodate disparate uses and users through a variety of welcoming visual signals. The explicit marketing of inclusion plays out through a variety of signals and events that support diverse and co-located land uses and programming, catering to a wide range of ages, incomes, and group identities. Drawing on analysis of two examples of public space site design and programing, as well as interviews with a variety of long-term observers and participants in Central Square’s development, the chapter exposes the particular difficulty inherent in efforts to maintain the benefits of socio-economic heterogeneity under perpetual threats of gentrification. Where and how, in short, have various organizations worked to maximize the range of people who can feel “centered” in Central Square through sending inclusive signals?
