hugeasscity

Wild turkeys run rampant in Medfield.

Radical = Traditional Neighborhood Development. This new project is the first of its kind in Medfield. The condo homes are on a scale similar to the housing in Seattle’s High Point neighborhood. Single family homes range from 2000 to 3000 sf, and there will also be duplexes (not yet built). The front yards are 12 […]

This is the sort of human-scale, pedestrian-oriented streetscape you’d expect to find in an older town like Medfield that was built prior to the age of the car. Unfortunately very little of the downtown has this urban form. Most of it feels more like this: This is one of the two major crossroads in the […]

These are the Charles River wetlands along the western border of Medfield. This is the same Charles River that flows through Boston. If not for these wetlands that can soak up massive amount of excess water from the river, Boston would be subject to serious flooding. All that purple looks amazing, but its an invasive […]

As you tour around Medfield it would not be unreasonable to conclude that there must some kind of ordinance requiring shutters. I’d estimate that nine out of ten houses have them — no exaggeration — regardless of age. The house in the photo above is probably something like 200 years old, and when it was […]

In April 2008 the City of Seattle began requiring new development projects that trigger SEPA to perform a greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventory, and in May 2008 King County released a draft climate change ordinance that proposes requiring projects to reduce GHG emissions to 15% below “business as usual.” But Massachusetts was there first, and […]

Signed into law July 2, 2008 by Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick. The bill focuses on energy, promoting efficiency and renewables. Utilities will be required to purchase efficiency improvements that cost less than it does to generate equivalent power. And they will also be required to hit 25% renewable by 2025. No specific greenhouse gas emissions […]

This photo was shot from a cul-de-sac in a 1960s subdivision in Medfield. Think that street is wide enough? For all you streetscape wonks, it measures 38 feet from curb-to-curb, with five foot sidewalks. In comparison, the standard low-density residential street in Seattle is 25 feet curb-to-curb (these are the streets on which it is […]

Thai food arrived in Medfield about a decade ago. But I’ve yet to find a good espresso cafe — not even a Starbucks in town.

The anchor business of nearly every small Massachusetts town: the package store, a.k.a. the “packy.” In Massachusetts this is the only place you can buy any kind of alcohol. About 5 years ago the State’s blue laws were relaxed and for the first time packies were allowed to open on Sundays, but only after 12 […]

[ By Stephen Mathewson, from “out of the ‘black_box_series” (2001, work_in_progress) ] 1. Stephen Mathewson (a.k.a. John Robinson): Founding member of Watch The Teeth Kate, and 21st century renaissance man. 2. “Hurricane” Peter McNeeley: First fighter to face Michael Tyson after he was released from prison in 1995; bout lasted 89 seconds.

Though the built environment of Medfield is dominated by single-family homes on large lots, there are more multifamily units than I would have guessed. The 2006 American Community Survey reports the following for the fraction of housing units that are single-family detached: Medfield: 81% Seattle: 48% Boston: 12% The rate of home ownership follows a […]

[ Medfield Town Hall, built in 1874 ] For 357 years since its incorporation as a town in 1651, Medfield has been governed by the purest form of democracy currently practiced in the United States: open town meeting. Any resident who is registered to vote can can show up at the annual town meeting and […]

The people of Medfield respect The Lawn. These are 1/2-acre lots in the photo above, not quite big enough to fall in the “too big to mow, too small to farm” category, but it takes real work to keep these beauties looking so good. And so the signature sound of the suburbs is the gas […]

Greetings from Medfield, Massachusetts, population: 12,000, median household income: $98,000. I seem to recall that when I was in high school I spent a lot of time drinking Budweiser on deserted dirt roads in this town. When I was in college my friend’s brother died of a heroin overdose in a building about a block […]

What is the relationship between the importance of a building and the brightness and saturation of its colors? One building in this photo provides energy for cars. The other provides housing and food for people. OK, whatever. Perhaps try a grok at this instead: Gas stations have remarkably resplendent color schemes, yet we barely notice […]

Stupid machine.  That is all.

True Story: The City of Seattle has taken space away from cars and given it to cyclists. And not just any space, but the most sacred kind of space there is in car culture: parking. A new bike lane will soon open on the west side of 4th Ave between Yesler and Spring, as part […]

In the several reviews that followed the release of Jared Diamond’s book Collapse, it seemed as though a multitude of the reviewers concentrated solely on Diamond’s summary of the event’s that led to the end of human occupation of Easter Island. The tone was universal, as though this information was some sort of shocking revelation. […]

The downtown office core harbors a cornucopia of uncanny urban spaces. The other day I happened to pass by the one shown above and couldn’t resist busting out the Panasonic DMC-TZ3, thinking I’d probably want to write something about how these grand entry plazas are usually such a stupid waste of space. But after I […]