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Davis Square Tiles Project
Twenty-five years ago a new subway stop opened in Somerville, MA. Today, many point to the Davis Square T stop as a major cause of the gentrification of the surrounding neighborhood. As plans are being made to add new stops in Somerville in the next few years, we wanted to drive a conversation about public transportation, artists, and gentrification that included the voices of people who are often left out of urban planning processes, with the ultimate goal of using the experiences of past residents to help current residents create a public transit plan.
Understanding our history before we plan for our future
When the Davis Square stop opened in 1980, it included a collection of 249 tiles made by local school children. We designed a campaign to collect the stories of the people who made these tiles to find out what happened to them and what they thought about how the Davis Square T stop changed their city. So far, The Davis Square Tiles Project has collected over 60 stories about the changes Somerville underwent as the tilemakers grew up.
Now, we're using those stories to spark more conversations – displaying the tiles in public spaces around Davis Square and along the proposed route of the new trolley line. The stories will be used by the Somerville Community Corporation in their Community Corridor planning process in the fall of 2009, and plans for a reunion of tilemakers are in the works for early 2010.
