A boulevard is a type of broad avenue planted with rows of trees, or in parts of North America, any urban highway or wide road in a commercial district.
In Europe, boulevards were originally circumferential roads following the line of former city walls.
Haussmann's renovation of Paris (known in French as the travaux haussmanniens, [tʁavo osmanjɛ̃], lit. 'Haussmannian works') was a vast public works programme commissioned by French Emperor Napoleon III and directed by his prefect of Seine, Georges-Eugène Haussmann, between 1853 and 1870.
It included the demolition of medieval neighbourhoods that were deemed overcrowded and unhealthy by officials at the time, the building of wide avenues, new parks and squares, the annexation of the suburbs surrounding Paris, and the construction of new sewers, fountains and aqueducts. Haussmann's work was met with fierce opposition, and he was ultimately dismissed by Napoleon III in 1870. The renovation allowed Paris to shine during the Belle Époque (1871–1914); work on his projects continued until 1927. The street plan and distinctive appearance of the centre of Paris today are largely the result of Haussmann's renovation.
In land-use planning, urban green spaces are open-space areas reserved for parks and other spaces of greenery. These include plant life, water features – also known as blue spaces – and other kinds of natural environments. Most urban open spaces are green spaces, though some may consist of other types of open areas. The landscape of urban open spaces can range from playing fields and other highly maintained environments to more natural landscapes that appear less managed.
Urban green spaces may also include areas that are not publicly accessible, such as privately owned higher education campuses, school sports fields, allotments, neighborhood or community parks and gardens, and corporate campuses. Areas outside city boundaries, such as state and national parks or rural open spaces, are not generally considered urban open spaces. Boulevards, piazzas, plazas, and urban squares are not consistently classified as urban open spaces in land-use planning.
A median strip, central reservation, roadway median, or traffic median is the reserved area that separates opposing lanes of traffic on divided roadways such as divided highways, dual carriageways, freeways, and motorways. The term also applies to divided roadways other than highways, including some major streets in urban or suburban areas. The reserved area may simply be paved, but commonly it is adapted to other functions; for example, it may accommodate decorative landscaping, trees, a median barrier, or railway, rapid transit, light rail, or streetcar lines.
University Avenue is a major north–south road in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Beginning at Front Street West in the south, the thoroughfare heads north to end at College Street and the south end of the University of Toronto's St. George campus and Queen's Park. At its north end, the Ontario Legislative Building serves as a prominent terminating vista. Many of Toronto's most important institutions are located along the eight-lane wide street such as Osgoode Hall and other legal institutions, the Four Seasons Centre, major hospitals conducting research and teaching, and landmark office buildings for the commercial sector, notably major financial and insurance industry firms. The portion of University Avenue between Queen Street West and College Street is laid out as a boulevard, with several memorials, statues, gardens, and fountains concentrated in a landscaped median dividing the opposite directions of travel, giving it a ceremonial character. Despite the avenue's name, the University of Toronto is primarily located on the neighbouring St. George Street.
Crown Heights is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Crown Heights is bounded by Washington Avenue to the west, Atlantic Avenue to the north, Ralph Avenue to the east, and Empire Boulevard to the south. It is about one mile (1.6 km) wide and two miles (3.2 km) long. Neighborhoods bordering Crown Heights include Prospect Heights to the west, Flatbush, Prospect Lefferts Gardens and East Flatbush to the south, Brownsville to the east, and Bedford–Stuyvesant to the north.
The main thoroughfare through this neighborhood is Eastern Parkway, a tree-lined boulevard designed by Frederick Law Olmsted in the late-1800s, extending two miles (3.2 km) east–west. Earlier, the area was sometimes known as Crow Hill, with a succession of ridges running east and west from Utica Avenue to Washington Avenue, and south to Empire Boulevard and East New York Avenue. When Crown Street was cut through in 1916, the area became known as the heights.
The Boulevard du Montparnasse (French pronunciation: [bulvaʁ dy mɔ̃paʁnas]) is a two-way boulevard in Montparnasse, in the 6th, 14th and 15th arrondissements of Paris.
The Boulevard Raspail (French pronunciation: [bulvaʁ ʁaspaj]) is a boulevard of Paris, in France.
Its orientation is north–south, and joins boulevard Saint-Germain with place Denfert-Rochereau whilst traversing 7th, 6th and 14th arrondissements. The boulevard intersects major roadways: Rue de Sèvres, Rue de Rennes and Boulevard du Montparnasse. The Allée Claude-Cahun-Marcel-Moore is situated on the boulevard, in front of the Alliance française.
Wilshire Boulevard (/ˈwɪlʃər/ WIL-shər) is a prominent 15.83 mi (25.48 km) boulevard in the Los Angeles area of Southern California, extending from Ocean Avenue in the city of Santa Monica east to Grand Avenue in the Financial District of downtown Los Angeles. One of the principal east–west arterial roads of Los Angeles, it is also one of the major city streets through the city of Beverly Hills. Wilshire Boulevard runs roughly parallel to Santa Monica Boulevard from Santa Monica to the west boundary of Beverly Hills. From the east boundary, it runs a block south of Sixth Street to its terminus.
Wilshire Boulevard is densely developed throughout most of its span, connecting five of Los Angeles's major business districts and Beverly Hills. Many of the post-1956 skyscrapers in Los Angeles are located along Wilshire; for example, the Wilshire Grand Center, the tallest building in California, sits at the intersection of Figueroa Street. One Wilshire, built in 1966 at the junction of Wilshire and Grand, is said to be "the main hub of the internet for the entire Pacific Rim" because so many telecommunications companies rent space there. Aon Center, Los Angeles' third-largest tower, is at 707 Wilshire Boulevard in downtown Los Angeles.
Karl-Marx-Allee (Karl Marx Avenue) is a prominent boulevard in the Berlin districts of Friedrichshain and Mitte, constructed and expanded by the former East Germany between 1949 and 1960 as a showcase of socialist urbanism and architectural grandeur. Originally named Stalinallee from 1949 to 1961, the boulevard formed the centrepiece of the German Democratic Republic's (GDR) postwar reconstruction efforts. It was conceived as a model of dignified workers' housing and civic life, designed by leading architects including Hermann Henselmann, Egon Hartmann, Hans Hopp, Kurt W. Leucht, Richard Paulick and Josef Souradny. The ensemble featured spacious residences, cultural institutions such as the Kino International, as well as restaurants, cafés, and a tourist hotel. These developments were emblematic of East Germany's ideological ambition to "elevate the proletariat" through state-led urban planning.
Stretching 2.3 kilometres (1.4 mi) and spanning 90 metres (300 ft) in width, Karl-Marx-Allee is lined with imposing eight-storey buildings rendered in the wedding-cake style of socialist classicism, reflecting the stylistic idiom of Stalinist architecture then prevalent in the Soviet Union. Notable landmarks include the twin towers at Frankfurter Tor and Strausberger Platz, both designed by Henselmann. The boulevard blends grandeur with local heritage, incorporating traditional Berlin motifs inspired by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, while façades were clad in ornate architectural ceramics. Though subject to decay by the late 1980s—with many tiles falling off, necessitating pedestrian shelters in some areas, the avenue remained widely admired. Philip Johnson referred to it as "true city planning on the grand scale," while Aldo Rossi declared it "Europe's last great street."