The second annual Curbed Boston Cup, our award for the Hub neighborhood of the year, is kicking off with 16 enclaves vying for the prestigious fake trophy. We'll have two match-ups per day this week, and all the results and the full tourney bracket will be reviewed on Friday. Voting for each pairing ends after 24 hours. Let the eliminations commence!
Today's second match-up pits the region's two tech hubs, East Cambridge and the Seaport District.
East Cambridge—in particular, Kendall Square—has undoubtedly become the region's leader in biotech and tech, a crown Boston would love to snatch (witness the competition for Google's affection at the start of 2012). One Broadway, in fact, may alone host the densest concentration of start-ups in the world. Add to that the fact that the Lechemere T stop is destined to be but one link in a giant Green Line chain stretching to Medford, and you've got yourself a promising 'hood chugging out of 2012.
However amorphous the Seaport District's Innovation District may be, it's the all-in by Boston on the tech sector, becoming more synonymous than ever in 2012 with the city's economic-development hopes. And the larger Seaport District (it's not entirely clear where the Innovation District begins and ends, but it spreads over much of the Seaport) has had quite the 2012 as well. There were big-time ground-breakings, for one thing: Pier 4; Fan Pier; Seaport Square. And much ado about the district's future, as there should be.
· Boston Courts Google—Can Kendall Square Stand It? [Curbed Boston]
· A Day in the Life of Kendall Square: Lobster and Smartphones [Curbed Boston]
· The Green Line Extension Is Really Happening [Curbed Boston]
· How to Talk About the Innovation District [Curbed Boston]
· 6 Things You Should Realize About the Innovation District [Curbed Boston]
· Seaport District's Fan Pier Making It Rain Condos [Curbed Boston]
· Pier 4: the 50 Innovation Units and Their Pals Just the Beginning [Curbed Boston]
· First Part of Seaport Square Under Way—And It's Innovative! [Curbed Boston]
· Connecting Southie—Brought to You by the Letter D [Curbed Boston]