Associate Professor Tim Love recently had an op-ed published in the Boston Globe that discusses the fate of Widett Circle now that Boston will not be hosting the 2024 Olympic Games. Widett Circle figured prominently in the proposals put forth by the Boston 2014 Committee. It was a proposed location for the Olympic Stadium.

Widett Circle has historically been the site of wholesale food market and is located between the Southeast Expressway and the MBTA rail yards. In light of the recent construction boom in Boston, a real plan for this area that incorporates the city’s need for “postindustrial” activities in a mixed-use district needs to be developed.

Professor Love proposes that the industrial legacy of Widett Circle is important to retain. Boston needs urban manufacturing and service-based industries are crucial for any dense urban area. Keeping this location affordable to such industries while perhaps developing other types of space within the same district would better connect it to the surrounding neighborhoods and create a vibrant, flexible zone for a wide range of activities, from tech startups, artist studios, maker spaces and more.

In 2014, Professor Love lead a grad research studio on Urban Manufacturing Districts. His students produced a publication on the topic as well as individual thesis projects proposing solutions to this issue.