Metabolic Valley

Route 128, Boston’s ring road, was once envisioned as the region’s Silicon Valley but today connects suburban neighborhoods with prototypical retail and warehouse hubs. This project, developed as part of the Elements of Urban Design seminar, reimagines a site in Westwood, Massachusetts, to address an emerging urban challenge: the carbon footprint of food systems from farm to table. The proposal envisions transforming underutilized sites into hubs of food metabolism by layering vertical farms, agricultural research centers, logistics hubs, and places of consumption alongside housing and mixed-use development. Using a palimpsest approach, the design overlays different architectural typologies—big-box structures, suburban homes, new interventions, and farming—to create a multi-functional district rooted in sustainability. By reframing the suburban prototype as an place of food production and exchange, the project illustrates how infrastructural corridors like Route 128 can be reimagined for biologically grounded urban futures.