Harvard lowers sights for Allston intersection: Now says it can become the new Davis Square instead of the new Harvard Square

What would it mean to build a Harvard Square in Allston? Try three Starbucks, eight banks, and a bunch of national chains. What they said was Davis Square or Coolidge Corner - and, frankly, that's an upgrade over present day Harvard Square.

The bigger issue, really, is the lack of density in the plans that Harvard is advancing thus far - and both sides are to blame. You can build nice wide sidewalks with lovely streetfront retail, but the shops will sit vacant unless there's a sufficient density of residents and workers to patronize them. Residents should band together to insist that Harvard's "institutional" buildings be built directly on the sidewalk, and devote their ground floors to third-party retail, dining, and entertainment tenants opening to the street. And, in return, they should back much, much higher densities of usage - fewer green deserts and low-slung buildings. Towers, where appropriate.

Boston and the BRA ought to be using their leverage to make this happen. The idea of putting a giant suburban-style office campus near the river, for example, ought to be a non-starter. What the city needs is urban development - walkable, livable streets; high density; mixed uses. That's Boston's comparative advantage over the western suburbs, which compete for the sort of large biotech research operations that Harvard hopes to site in Allston.

I'd much rather spend a day around Davis Square than I would around Harvard Square.