Anyone who knows Boston knows that the city is famously confusing for drivers. Its "squares" (usually vaguely defined intersections of various major and minor streets, virtually never square in shape) are the points where that confusion usually reaches its peak, precipitating a variety of questions (Which way do I go? Why are all of these streets one-way? Have I reached my destination? What lane do I want to be in?).
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Instead of banging your head against the steering wheel, take a moment instead of ponder how the street layout illustrates the region's unique historical development pattern, as per the Bostonography blog:
The city is like miniature region because the overall organization of streets is like what you’ll see if you look at a smaller-scale map and see how cities and towns dot the landscape with major roads connecting the dots (perhaps as is evident in the Mass Streets map from last month). In the urban area, instead of cities and towns we have squares and neighborhoods, and instead of highways we have a variety of surface thoroughfares. In fact, it’s pretty much exactly the same pattern; in the old days, some of what are now the squares and neighborhoods connected by city streets were different towns and settlements connected by a series of roads. Bit by bit neighborhoods (which often do have coherent street patterns within) filled the gaps, and Boston annexed some of the separate towns, until there was a rather solid central city with an interior web of streets running every which way.
The author of the post rightly points out that Boston's tangled street nodes engender a very strong sense of neighborhood and place across the city and many of the surrounding towns:
Anyway, the best thing about the wacky squares is the unique, strong identity of each. They’ve all got their own geographic, residential, and commercial character, and if you live near one it’s your square. And the charm, oh the charm of the confusing intersections and navigation from square to square instead of compass directions.
Boston's squares are absolutely one of the things that make it unique, and the rigor that they require is something I sometimes miss when I travel to other, more intuitively navigable North American cities. Boston's layout commands an engagement with the streetscape and a certain awareness of how things fit together that so many other cities, on this continent at least, really don't. That's part of why I like it.
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