The second annual Curbed Boston Cup, our award for the Hub neighborhood of the year, is under way 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 continue!
First match-up of the day, Somerville vs. Allston!
Much happened in Somerville in 2012, much of it of the presaging variety. Take SomerVision, the 20-year master plan for the city introduced in May, with its plans for 6,000 new homes. Or just this past week, the ground-breaking for the Green Line extension to both Union Square and Medford. Or! Mayor Joseph Curtatone's April call for techies and hipsters to move to town, lamenting that Somerville had been "leapfrogged" by Kendall Square.
Allston, too, exits 2012 on the precipice of change. Witness the mega-plans unveiled in October by noted night school Harvard to transform Barry's Corner into a new Davis Square and build hundreds of thousands of square feet of new buildings, including sports complexes and hotel rooms. Aerosmith saw changes like this coming, of course.
· SomerVision Sees 6,000 New Homes, Lots of Green Line Riders [Curbed Boston]
· The Green Line Extension Is Really Happening [Curbed Boston]
· Somerville to Board Tech Train as Mayor Praises 'Hipsters' [Curbed Boston]
· Paint Allston Crimson! Harvard's Details: New Arena, Offices [Curbed Boston]
· 40 Years Ago, Aerosmith Saw Allston's Gentrification Coming [Curbed Boston]