THE EMERALD NECKLACE IN BOSTON

The Emerald Necklace in Boston

The Emerald Necklace in Boston

In the midst of a vibrant, modern city, there is an urban oasis called the Emerald Necklace, or Emerald Necklace, which stretches along seven miles, starting in historic downtown Boston and continuing through a dozen neighborhoods connecting people with nature, as the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted was proposed more than 100 years ago. Nine different but all interconnected parks offer a wide variety of experiences, ranging from a quiet space in the shade of a tree, to more active playing basketball, walking, or sailing. From a botanical garden to a zoo, the attractions of the Emerald Necklace are as varied as the seasons.

The diversity of the Emerald Necklace parks reflects the different ways in which people have connected with the landscape and the use of these spaces for more than four centuries. Not long after landing in Boston, the first settlers (according to the English tradition) spaces reserved for grazing cattle. Today, human activity fills the Boston Common, the oldest public park in America, in the northeast corner of the Emerald Necklace in the dense heart of the city. Adjacent to Boston Common is the Public Garden, which was built in 1837 as the first public botanical garden in the country, and as an expression of the Victorian passion for ornamental plants. The walk from the Commonwealth Avenue (1856) was a great development of twelve blocks to the Public Garden, inspired the boulevards of Paris, becoming the central pillar of the new residential area of Back Bay.

Just as the Boston Common, Public Garden and the Mall were responses to needs and historical circumstances. Olmsted's work in the 1880s was a response to the needs of his generation. Having tripled in size in the city, with nearly half a million inhabitants, Olmsted saw the need that existed in the city have a shared space that everyone could go to escape the noise, pollution and congestion of the city contributing the health of the population. Olmsted designed six parks, each different but all interrelated forming a green uninterruptible 7 miles, and unlike their predecessors, with a style designed with a fluid and natural.

In some places, as in Jamaica Pond, Olmsted subtly reshapes the landscape to enhance existing scenic qualities. Other parks required enormous engineering efforts, such as changing the topography of the Riverway to transform a river, dangerously contaminated, in a park for the enjoyment of visitors. After more than a century, the Emerald Necklace is still an exceptional example of design, landscaping and urban planning. Olmsted parks, among which we count the Boston Common, Public Garden and the Mall, are included in the National Register of Historic Places. These parks connect people and nature. They attract visitors from around the world, offering joy and satisfaction to all who seek the beauty and tranquility in the dense urban environment.

The development of parks in Boston, today are known as the "Emerald Necklace" or necklace emerald, was not an orderly ...