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Boston's Newer Parks: Then and Now

Including the Greenway and the Lawn on D

Boston Globe via Getty Images

Boston hosts the oldest public park in the nation in its Common. And the city continues to add parkland well over three centuries since that first one opened. As part of Renovation Week, here's a look at a trio of newer parks, all of which involved making over existing structures and spaces.

↑ 'Tis no starker before-and-after example in the city than the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway. Simply put, the 1.5-mile ribbon through downtown sprung directly from the sinking of the Central Artery in the 1990s and early 2000s.

↑ The Harborwalk is another ribbon of Boston parkland that had to be built, and that has been built relatively recently. Or at least most of it has. According to the city, 38 miles of the planned 47-mile coastal walkway have been completed. Once done, it will stretch largely uninterrupted from Dorchester to East Boston.

↑ The 2.7-acre Lawn on D opened last year amid much fanfare. The replaced a lot next to the convention center, and has since hosted numerous art installations and events. Generally, though, it has been both a shining example of public-private partnership for parkland and a place to chill in the Seaport-slash-Innovation District. The next season of the Lawn on D opens May 21.