From Dead Store to Pop-Up ‘Social Infrastructure’

Cambridge’s Kendall Square, nestled between the MIT campus and the Charles River, suffers from some familiar symptoms of 2019-style retail malaise: an abundance of “For Rent” signs and hollowed-out storefronts. Though this is a booming area that’s home to a growing tech-entrepreneurial base, much of the commercial activity is reserved for weekdays; at nights and on weekends, Kendall Square gets sleepier.

While other cities have toyed with vacancy taxes and vacant-storefront registries to combat the proliferation of dead retailers, as CityLab has reported, the Boston nonprofit CultureHouse has taken a tactical urbanist approach: physically occupying vacant storefronts and turning them into pop-up public places. In a long-vacant former coffee shop on Kendall Street, for example, people can sit and talk, read, eat, see a show, or attend an ever-changing rotation of events. This last week, the space hosted a “Game Night,” a ping-pong tournament, Dog Trivia, and a screening of a documentary on Jane Jacobs.