Case Study of Popular Placemaking Program in Longwood Offers Inspiration and Lessons Learned to Other Medical, Academic, And Business Districts

How to enhance the vitality of urban areas and other “anchor districts” through programs and activities in parks and plazas is the focus of the newest white paper published by the Longwood Collective, the chief planner and principal steward of the world-renowned Longwood Medical and Academic Area (LMA), a 24/7/365 academic medical center in Boston.

Entitled “Playbook for Placemaking in a Medical and Academic District,” the white paper offers key lessons and best practices from the experience of the Collective’s six-year-old Outside// program, which brings live music performances, food trucks, art installations, book and game carts, dog petting, outdoor furniture, and other free, publicly accessible amenities to the LMA. The Playbook cites how a key ingredient to a successful placemaking program is partnership and co-creating a vision with stakeholder support. In the LMA, Outside// is sponsored by Longwood Collective and its member institutions including Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, along with BioMed Realty.

“Creating spaces that bring joy, healing, and connection, particularly for our hospital patients, their visiting loved ones, and our frontline healthcare workers is critical to our vision of making Longwood the most desirable place to work, learn, and heal,” said Longwood Collective CEO David Sweeney. “Putting together this ‘Playbook’ to share our experience with others has also helped Longwood Collective comprehensively review what makes Outside// a success for the LMA and how we can continue to improve the program for our patients, workers, students, and visitors.”

Outside// began as a pilot program in 2019 to activate private spaces to benefit the LMA’s 73,000 workers, 3.8 million patient visits per year, and 24,000 students. Since that time, it has become a beloved program in the LMA that last summer welcomed 18,000 lunchtime visitors, hosted 2,700 people to special events like dog petting and free concerts, increased the number of activated sites, and expanded programming through the winter months.

In Longwood, the Outside// program aims to foster collaboration and a sense of community, improve the quality of life and creating moments of joy, bring a culture of care outside, create a unique neighborhood identity, and contribute to diversity, equity, and inclusion for the LMA and surrounding communities. Having defined objectives is an important component of creating a placemaking program that’s impact can be measured quantitatively and qualitatively, according to the Playbook.

With the LMA being a highly dense 213-acre area with 21 million square feet of development and little public open space within the district’s core, collaboration among the Outside// program and its sponsors to make private spaces available to all for different kinds of programming and events has been key to the program’s success.

“Outside// has become a treasured program in Longwood, and one that our staff, our patients, and their families look to for outdoor respite and/or moments of joy” said Wendy Gettleman, Vice President of Facilities Management & Real Estate for Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. “What began as a pilot program in 2019 has become an extension of our hospitals’ culture of care, and one that we are excited to see grow each year.”

The “Playbook for Placemaking” outlines the key steps to building a successful initiative, covering everything from outdoor furniture and insurance agreements to hiring “ambassadors” to welcome participants, oversee sites and events, and be sources of information. The playbook also shares key insights into which kinds of programs best work in different types of spaces including plazas, parks and green spaces, and reserved sections of sidewalk. Besides medical district leaders, other audiences for the white paper include urban planners, landscape architects, Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), and municipalities.

From a program user perspective, Nicky, who works at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute said, “Last week, my patient and I went outside for a walk and came across your band playing at Joslin Park. [The] music was beautiful and so meaningful to my patient… The majority of my patients are hospitalized for months on end and sometimes taking them outside is the only thing that makes them feel human.”

In addition to its regular daily programming, for the second summer in a row, the Outside// program will host three free summer concerts during the months of August and September at 4 Blackfan Circle. In addition to live music, these summer concerts feature food trucks, games, and giveaways.

Longwood Collective staff produced the white paper in partnership with Agency Landscape + Planning, a mission-driven design firm dedicated to addressing social equity, cultural vitality, and environmental resilience through design excellence, strategic planning, and community engagement.

Ping pong tables are set up at BIDMC’s Shapiro Plaza. 

A key feature of the Outside// program are the tables, chairs, and umbrellas for people to use and enjoy. There are nine locations throughout the district, including in front of Boston Children’s Hospital Hunnewell Building.

Every Wednesday from 12-2 p.m. at Joslin Park, puppies that are available for adoption through the Shultz House visit the district. On average, 200+ people attend.

Outside// offers live music performances daily from 12-2:  twice weekly at BIDMC’s Shapiro Plaza, twice weekly at DFCI’s PMC Plaza, twice weekly at BWH’s Stoneman Centennial Park, and once weekly at BIDMC’s Lower Shapiro Plaza and BWH’s Cohn Courtyard.

Outside// offers 400 unique book titles across its 4 locations: BCH’s Hunnewell Plaza, DFCI’s Smith Plaza, BIDMC’s Shapiro Plaza, and BWH’s Stoneman Centennial Park.