Paris has street signs. New York has yellow taxicabs. London has everything—phone booths, distinctive taxis whose drivers possess “The Knowledge,” double-decker buses, and Bobbies.

What does Boston have that comes in multiples and offers a distinguishing image for the city? Maybe three things:  bland advertising kiosks with sometimes out-of-date maps installed by J. C. Decaux—you’d think a French firm could do better than that. There are the taxis—all white, which mean they look the same as most other cars. How about neon green? We also have the ubiquitous buttons that pedestrians must push if they want a walk sign. None of these nonentities qualify as civic design.

Civic design here is ugly, or maybe non-existent. In an era where a clever person can put a camera, a phone and a computer into a sleek rectangle less than three by five inches and call it an iPhone, there is no excuse for degradations to our city. Continue reading →