East Campus

Community ideas

The following comments and thoughts have been shared by members of the MIT and Cambridge communities. We welcome your ideas.

Community participation is key

Kendall Square is a place where diverse people work, live, study, and play. Its optimal future can only be realized through a serious exploration that involves the active participation of its community members. Therefore, we are committed to advancing plans for the East Campus through an interactive, thoughtful process that is highly collaborative and inclusive. With these forums, our goal is to engage and examine a rich variety of viewpoints on the road to a unique and inventive solution for this area. We believe community participation is the key to ensuring that the evolution of Kendall Square is inspired, sustainable, and satisfying to all.

Goals of the study

The goal of the East Campus Urban Design Study is to help MIT create a long-range development framework that shapes future academic, residential, and commercial uses for its properties in the Kendall Square area. The initiative also seeks to create a vibrant gateway into MIT’s east campus.

Goals for the study include:

  • enhancing the existing Kendall Square innovation cluster by providing space for new innovative academic initiatives and commercial enterprises
  • creating a lively urban environment by developing a destination gathering and arrival place with amenities and services and active streetscapes for all
  • establishing a vibrant new gateway and connective links between the Institute, the central business district, and the Cambridge community
  • creating an overall development plan that is comprehensive and feasible

Background

In 2009, MIT began working with Elkus|Manfredi Architects to develop a conceptual approach to development in the East Campus. Over the next three years, the Institute engaged in a community-wide effort to align the interests of a broad group of stakeholders around a future vision for the area.

In October 2012, the Faculty Task Force on Community Engagement in 2030 Planning, appointed by Provost Chris Kaiser, recommended that a comprehensive urban design plan for the east campus be completed if and when MIT received zoning approval for this area from the City of Cambridge.

The Cambridge City Council approved MIT’s rezoning petition for new development around Kendall Square in April 2013. The Council’s approval gives MIT the ability to propose over a million square feet of new development – a combination of housing, retail, lab, commercial, and open space. MIT also continues to have the right to pursue 800,000 square feet of new academic development.

Current process

Following the Cambridge rezoning decision in April 2013 and in response to the recommendations of the Task Force on Community Engagement, Adèle Santos, dean of the School of Architecture and Planning (SA+P), led a faculty design group through an informal exploration of design typologies for a Kendall Square initiative. Building on the work of the three-year community process, the group focused primarily on developing additional design goals and planning principles that should be achieved in future urban-design proposals.

Now, MIT has commissioned an urban design study and assembled a team [link to team page] that will use the analysis developed by Elkus|Manfredi Architects and the City of Cambridge during the rezoning effort and the work [link to report] of the SA+P’s faculty design group, in addition to significant input from the community as a foundation for developing its concepts. As we begin envisioning the future of Kendall Square and our east campus, we will host six forums between November 2013 and January 2014 to provide opportunities for in-depth community participation in the process.

A steering group [link to governance page], co-chaired by Provost Kaiser and Executive Vice President and Treasurer Israel Ruiz, will guide the east campus/MIT gateway study and ensure MIT faculty and community input as well as outreach to the Cambridge community.

We invite you to share your thoughts [link to comments form page] on the future of MIT’s east campus or peruse comments from other community members [link to comments listing page].

If you have any questions regarding this effort or next steps, please contact us at mit2030info@mit.edu.