On April 30, 2012, Brown and the City of Providence signed a Memorandum of Agreement in which the University purchased sections of Benevolent, Brown and Olive Streets. In addition, the City licensed 250 revenue-producing on-street parking spaces to Brown for faculty and staff use. In turn, the University agreed to pay Providence $31.5 million over 11 years. The street purchase created an opportunity for Brown to convert these streets, which encompass 65,000 square feet of asphalt in the heart of campus, into inviting pedestrian walkways.
Shortly after the transaction, a June 2012 amendment to the University’s 2011 Institutional Master Plan revealed that Brown intended to “create a safer and more welcoming environment for pedestrians” on the streets. The Amendment noted that “all three streets carry minimum vehicular traffic but very high pedestrian activity.” Now, more than a decade later, Brown has done little to fulfill this vision. The University must renew its commitment and pedestrianize Brown and Benevolent Street.
Historically, Brown has repurposed several streets in order to consolidate and improve its campus. As described in “Brown University: An Architectural Tour” by Raymond P. Rhinehart ’62, Brown Street originally ran through the eastern flank of the Main Green, enabling vehicles to traverse the gravel roadway between Waterman and George Streets. The 1904 installation of the Nicholas Brown Gate on George Street eliminated this throughway. The building of Wriston Quadrangle in 1952 gobbled up a long stretch of Benevolent Street between Brown and Thayer Streets. More recently, Manning Street morphed into Manning Walkway with the creation of the Science Quadrangle in 1990.
In 2002, the University hired Frances Halsband as its lead architect, to create a Master Plan, which would “determine what twenty-first century Brown will look like.” In 2003, Halsband also produced the Strategic Framework for Physical Planning, which governs all capital projects to this day. On College Hill, the primary principle was to “develop a circulation infrastructure that will foster community and unify and enhance the campus and its surroundings.” Halsband was particularly attuned to people and the way they moved about campus in search of a sense of place and community. She wrote that “the elimination of much vehicular traffic on campus creates an oasis of safety and quiet” and “a simple lane … speaks of a great freedom of pedestrian activities — walking, meandering, contemplating, even sitting down.” Her vision led to fellow architect Todd Rader’s creation of The Walk, which connected the Ruth J. Simmons Quadrangle to the Pembroke Campus, providing the Brown community with safe and pleasant passage.
Rader followed up The Walk with an equally inspiring plan to convert Benevolent, Brown and Olive Streets. After the 2012 Institutional Master Plan Amendment detailed Brown’s intention to proceed with the street conversion plan, he noted that the acquisition presents “a unique opportunity to alter long standing campus boundaries and create larger campus blocks uninterrupted by city traffic.” The plans were transformational, connecting two distinct areas into a cohesive whole by linking “disparate preexisting buildings (that) linked back to the Main Campus quadrangle.”
The proposed green corridors included rain gardens to help manage stormwater, which often flooded nearby buildings. Plantings were designed to reduce high temperatures, and heat-resistant pavers replaced the existing hardscape. Benches provided opportunities for people to relax and congregate, while gateposts at the intersections served to emphasize the connections and transition to more welcoming and vibrant spaces.
After former President Ruth Simmons stepped down on June 30, 2012, the Rader plans faded into obscurity. The University pivoted to a new 10-year initiative in 2014, “Building on Distinction: A New Plan for Brown.” Although infrastructure and maintaining “the sense of intimacy and connectedness of the campus” were highlighted as key components of the new plan, no official mention of the Brown and Benevolent street pedestrianization plans has been forthcoming since 2014.
Fast-forward to the present: Brown completed payment of its $31.5 million street acquisition purchase in 2022, with little return on investment to show for the massive outlay. The University does, however, continue to collect parking fees for the 250 on-street parking spaces. Thanks to the completion of the Lindemann Performing Arts Center in 2023, Olive Street has become off-limits to through traffic, with no public parking allowed. Brown and Benevolent streets, however, remain unchanged since the 1950’s — frozen in time.
Students still cycle or walk the streets and sidewalks, breathing toxic fumes and dodging vehicles, while feeling the heat generated by asphalt and vehicles in warm weather. Increased student density has become a byproduct of the ballooning of student enrollment to over 11,000. Every inch of green space is more critical to student physical and psychological well-being. These barren streets do nothing to promote intimacy, connectedness and a sense of community.
Across George street is the Main Green, the heart of campus, a place which embodies the Brown community spirit. Our University has always prided itself on the beauty of the campus and its intimate scale. As President Henry Wriston reflected in his farewell speech to the Alumni Council in 1955, “This is a place of beauty and charm, and I do not believe that any boy can walk these walks for four years and not have something happen to his heart as well as his head.”
On a hopeful note, the recent repurposing of Andrews House, which removed parking spaces and created a large green space connected to Annmary Brown Memorial, embodies the Rader plan for this area. The next good news would be to hear an announcement that Brown and Benevolent Streets are being repurposed and renamed in honor of Presidents Simmons and Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20. There has been significant movement toward creating campus awareness around the existence of the dormant Rader pedestrianizing plan. Student members of the Brown Pedestrianization Initiative have been hard at work educating the community about Brown’s original intentions. These positive activists recognize that the stakes are much higher now than in 2012, with climate change increasingly impacting the campus. The BPI motto is “A Plan Whose Time Has Come.”
President Paxson’s recent summation of the highly successful BrownTogether Campaign also addressed the future. She spoke of maintaining momentum, which includes “continuing to reinvigorate Brown’s physical campus through targeted development.” Brown and Benevolent street should be on the top of the priority list for improving the quality of life at the University for generations to come.
Peter Mackie ’59 is Brown’s Sports Archivist and has been walking the campus pathways since 1955. Peter Mackie ’59 can be reached at peter.mackie17@gmail.com. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
