Looking for information on MAPC’s official meetings and legal notices? Find it here.
Come join the North Suburban Planning Council as we talk about Arts and Culture activity and planning around the subregion. We will hear from Jenn Erickson, MAPC’s Arts and Culture Manager, Amanda Maher from MassDevelopment, and have an opportunity to network with local folks working in the arts and planning across the subregion.
NSPC’s March meeting has been moved to March 19th due to snow. We will hear from Chris Kluchman about the State’s Housing Choice Initiative.
We will be joined by Francis Goyes, MAPC’s Regional Housing and Land Use Planner, to hear about her “Living Little” work that takes a look at smaller housing typologies and how they may be translated into the NSPC region. We’ll also be joined by Sharon Ron, MAPC’s Public Health Research Analyst to discuss what it means to plan for healthy living and healthy housing.
We’re postponing… but! In response to the Massachusetts’s Governor’s guidance in response to the outbreak of COVID-19, we’re postponing this event. In the meantime, however, we’re still thinking about these important issues, and know you are, too. We invite you to sign up here to receive occasional emails on this and related topics. We apologize for any inconvenience and look forward to being in touch!
How might creative acts of remembering and imagining in public help us reframe the past and present–and see more inclusive futures?
Join the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) and New England Foundation for the Arts (NEFA) for a conversation that explores the power of public art to catalyze critical dialogue around public memory, representation, and belonging, and to transform public life. You’ll hear from artists, curators, and organizers who use creative strategies to reframe public memory and imagine future possibilities for more inclusive, thriving spaces and communities.
Guest Speakers:
Paul Farber – Artistic Director and Co-Founder of Monument Lab and Senior Research Scholar at the Center for Public Art and Space at the University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design (keynote speaker and moderator)
Erin Genia (Dakota/ Odawa) – Multidisciplinary artist, educator and cultural worker specializing in Indigenous arts and culture
Kate Gilbert – Executive Director of Now + There
Stephen Hamilton – Artist and educator, based in Boston
This event is part of a series organized by the MAPC’s Arts and Culture Department and NEFA’s Public Art Department in conjunction with MAPC’s MetroCommon 2050 planning process. This unique, cross-sector initiative brings together artists and creators, planners, and policymakers to discuss the evolving relationship among public art, public memory, and public policy and to explore how artists can envision and shape more inclusive, thriving spaces and communities in Greater Boston.
We invite you to join the MetroWest Collaborative at MAPC for our annual trails forum. Our host this year is the City of Framingham. The forum will provide an update of regional trail accomplishments and share progress in Framingham for linking the downtown, Farm Pond, Cushing Park and other City destinations with a connected trail network.
The event includes breakfast, a welcome by Mayor Sisitsky, several presentations, and a walking tour of trail projects adjacent.
Specific milestones to be celebrated this year:
- The City recently completed the purchase of the CSX right-of-way to extend the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail into Framingham
- Purchase agreement for ~50 acres of conservation land on the Framingham/Sherborn line that will provide key trail connections
- The East Coast Greenway has relocated their route in 2023 to pass through Framingham
Optional afternoon walking tours look at two additional locations in Framingham where we are looking to create a continuous shared use path between the Bruce Freeman Rail Trail and the Upper Charles Trail
Agenda:
8:15 a.m. – Breakfast and mingling
9:00 a.m. – Welcome and Introductions
9:15 a.m. – Metrowest Greenway status report from the Metropolitan Area Planning Council
10:00 a.m. – Framingham Trails Focus
11:00 a.m. – Walking Tour of current and proposed trail projects (about 2 miles long adjacent to Cushing Park). The tour will include the following projects or trails:
- Sudbury Aqueduct
- Chris Walsh Trail
- Framingham Station Access
- Development projects and trail potential
12:30 p.m. – Formal event ends with additional optional walking tours after lunch
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. Lunch Break for those continuing the afternoon tours
Afternoon Walking Tours:
Walking Tour #1 at 1:30 p.m. – South Framingham to Sherborn (Meet at Bates Park on Bates Road)
Walking Tour #2 at 3:00 p.m. – Bruce Freeman across Route 9 to Framingham State University (Meet at Oak St in front of Village Hall)