Natural Processes

The West Broadway site occupies the transition between the natural and the built. The eastern half of the site is built on natural land, and correspondingly, is one of the oldest settlements in the Boston area. The western half is filled land. This dichotomy gives the site two distinctive areas, one where natural processes were more closely harmonized with the developed environment, and one where natural processes were altered to create the developed environment. Looking at the history and the environmental context of the site allows deductions about how environmental processes affect and will affect the site into the future. The nonfilled area has been developed in such a way that it is likely to be able to survive a changing climate without considerable degradation. The filled area will be less lucky, and will need to contend with a changing environment in the future. Natural processes have shaped the site's location and design and continue to be a force shaping its form.

The sad stub of water which Google Maps helpfully labels the "Bass River" is all that remains of the South Boston Bay which existed between the Boston peninsula and the land that would become South Boston. Like the rest of the city's surrounding ocean, it was claimed in the hunt for livable land. It survived as a short channel, still called the "South Bay", into the 1950s, when it was finally dammed at its current spot just before the 4th Street bridge. The bridge, built prior to the Traveler's Bridge, no long serves its original purpose and now simply acts as an overpass for the railway below. The majestic bay has been replaced by the sprawling industrial form of the MBTA, the interstate, and some development of the South End.

The remaining channel, which still responds to tidal flow and the strong sea-borne southern wind, now collects washed-up trash at its termination and is home to a trio of CSO (combined sewer overflow) outfalls owned by the city of Boston². The outfalls, which are used in case of flooding, dump untreated sewage and storm water (containing industrial and vehicular runoff from the streets of South Boston) into the channel, which is directly connected to the harbor. As Spirn writes in Granite Garden, the increased organic nutrient concentrations can catalyse algae blooms which are harmful to the local fish and plant species. The Boston Harbor often has algae blooms¹, and these CSOs likely contribute to the problem.

Moving east across the channel, Dorchester Ave. cuts through the site. This street, which seems at an odd direction compared to the rest of the area, used to run along the edge of bay, and now divides the filled land from the natural. While the topography of the site may not be as pronounced as the hills and drumlins of the rest of South Boston, and only a single noted topographic curve is on the map, the site still has a distinctive hill that one notices if looking. Standing at the intersection of Athens St. and A St., it is downhill in all directions. Broadway obviously slopes down to the bridge at its west end. The streets slope further downward as they run south. This area is home to the majority of the buildings on the site, and they should be thankful for their location. This area likely has less flooding and a lesser chance of decaying foundations than the landfilled area. In fact, projections indicate that this segment of the city will suffer much less from rising sea levels and increased coastal flooding than the surrounding neighborhoods. Even considering worst-case predictions for 2070, which ravage much of the South End and the Seaport District, and even the MBTA yard at the west end of the site, West Broadway stays high and dry.

There is also a noticeable contrast in the style of development on the filled and natural lands of the area. Looking north to the Seaport District (which is also mostly filled land), there is sprawling, larger development, such as the Boston convention center, shipping complexes, and huge parking lots. On the West Broadway site, the filled land is occupied by railroads, rail yards, and the interstate. This is significantly different than the tightly compacted Boston core or the West Broadway neighborhood to the east. The landfill map shows clearly that the shift in pattern neatly follows the landfill border. Of course, this is logical; South Boston, being on natural land, has been occupied nearly since the founding of the city, and has been saturated with buildings over time. On the other hand, the more recently filled areas provided space for the low sprawl of the rail yards and the large developments of the Seaport District.

These differences in density create an “island” effect on West Broadway. The hilliness of the site juts it upward above the low-lying land and short buildings around it. Crossing Traveler St. Bridge and looking north, the concrete canyon of the financial district seems to rise out of a plain a considerable distance away from the site. These plains create conditions where wind can sweep with great speed across the urban landscape of West Broadway. On site visits, the wind mostly swept south down parallel streets, coming off the ocean from the north, and west on the cross streets, sweeping downhill towards the warmer city core. At the northeastern corner of site, where 2nd St. crosses the South Boston Bypass, the fences have been bent back by the wind off the open area below. This suggests the strong winds observed are the norm, rather than a product of weather of the particular day.

The strong gusts create a wind chill that lowers the temperature to uncomfortable on a cool day, offset only by standing in the sunlight. The sun is a perennial feature of West Broadway, whose effect varies considerably based on the precise location within the site. The open space to the north and south provide little barrier to the sun, and thus the bridges and western edge of the site are both lit up bright. The interior of the site is a patchwork of sun and shadows. West Broadway has buildings of varying height, from two and three stories, to ten or eleven, where much of the older development is shorter. The newer development, mainly condominium towers, is changing the sunlight distribution of the site by casting swaths of darkness across the streets behind them.

While the sunlight is a lovely thing to encounter on a windy day, it unfortunately isn't being particularly well used. The plant life within most of the site is limited. There are many examples of the sad street tree described in Granite Garden, which is stunted and has unhealthy-looking bark. The lucky ones have 4 whole square feet of soil to themselves. They are surrounded by concrete and the bustle and emissions of the street. The ones surviving best are next to small private landscapes out front of some of the condominium buildings, where they have managed to extend their root systems into these small patches of soil. Plants have also taken root in unused building lots and in some of the space along alleys.

The South Boston Bypass, while unnaturally dug down into a man-made ditch cutting through the site's hills, is also home to most of the wildlife of the site. Originally home to railroads, it now exists as a commercial transportation route through South Boston. It also serves as a natural space in the midst of an otherwise built environment. The ditch is bordered in some places by reinforced concrete walls and metal beams, in others by walls of stone with grasses poking through the cracks, and in some spots simply by steep inclines that run into the edge of the adjacent properties. Its hard to tell whether these slopes were intentionally made or simply the decay of a previous, more structured edge. Regardless, at the edges and slopes of the bypass flourish an array of flora. Trees, grasses, and various plants have been allowed to take root and grow in this no-mans land. In late February, before any green had reappeared, it was still obviously an a small urban wild, providing oxygen, cooling, and an attractive environment for animal life, becoming a “corridor” as described in Granite Garden. The only observed animals during site visits, aside from a pair of gulls near the channel, were a number of birds who were resting in the bare trees of the Bypass.

Like most urban areas, West Broadway builds over the natural processes occurring in the soil and water, and changes the processes occurring in the air. However, these processes are still active, only harder to see. West Broadway is interesting in that it contrasts the processes as they occur in naturally-occurring and landfilled areas. The processes occurring within and without the site are likely to prove hazardous to the landfilled area, causing subsidence and flooding in the future. The fact that the higher, natural land should be less affected should show city developers the hazards of continued development of low-lying landfill, such as is occurring in the Seaport District, in light of the changing climate and rising tides. The encroaching sun-blocking development, and the already under-cared for urban forest should be thoughtfully considered as the site continues changing, to prevent a treeless canyon, as has already occurred in Boston's urban core. The forested character of the bypass corridor should be preserved as a small bit of nature in an otherwise industrial region. Future development of the site and the city of Boston should pay closer attention to the natural processes that have shaped it and continue to shape it to this day.

Bibliography

1. Berman, Bruce. Nasty Harbor Sighting is Just Algae, Not Sewage. July 6, 2017. Accessed March 09, 2017. LINK

2. Boston Water and Sewer Commission. Combined Sewer Systems & Outfall Maps. Accessed March 08, 2018. LINK

3. Chan Krieger & Associates. "Boston Over Time." Map. 2008. Norman B. Leventhal Map Center. LINK (accessed March 04, 2018). Site boundaries drawn.

4. City of Boston. Climate Ready Boston Map Explorer. Accessed March 08, 2018. LINK

5. Elkins, James. How to Use Your Eyes. Routledge: New York, NY. 2000: pp. Vii-xi, 12-19, 28-33, 170-175.

6. J.H. Colton and Company, 1856. Map of Boston and adjacent cities. Colton's Atlas of the World. 1:6200. Accessed via LINK

7. Spirn, Anne Whiston. The Granite Garden: Urban Nature And Human Design. Basic Books: New York, NY. 1980.

8. U.S. Geological Survey, 1954, USGS 1:25000-scale Quadrangle for Boston South, MA 1954: U.S. Geological Survey. Cropped and site boundaries darkened.