The rollout of Chrome’s M3 Expressive redesign, which began in late August, is now complete. It comes a few weeks after most first-party apps have received their updates.
Opening the three-dot overflow menu reveals how Chrome has placed the forward, bookmark, download, site info, and refresh buttons in circular containers at the top. The star icon’s background becomes a rounded square when visiting a saved page. This helps those actions stand out against the ever-growing list.
On the Tab Grid, the new tab ‘plus’ is placed in a rounded square with a Dynamic Color background. The tab, Incognito (when active), and Groups switcher gets its own container with a rounded square used to note the current section. Tab Groups are now themed with the color you’ve selected to help distinguish them.
Chrome tested a touch of Material 3 Expressive in the address bar, but this is not fully rolled out. For some, the Omnibox uses a split/segmented progress indicator with rounded “corners” as pages load.
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In adding Material 3 Expressive components, Chrome did not increase the size of these buttons. As such, everything is much smaller than updated interfaces in other apps. This fits how the Chrome UI has not significantly changed across Google’s various design language updates.
This M3 Expressive redesign widely rolled out as a server-side update with Chrome 141 for Android. If you don’t see it, be sure to Force stop the browser from App info.
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With no end in sight to the federal government shutdown and uncertainty abroad, former President Joe Biden on Sunday said he still believes in the promise of the nation.
“When I was president, I said the most urgent question facing the country is whether democracy is still America’s sacred cause. I think the answer is yes,” Biden, 82, said as he picked up a lifetime achievement award from the Edward M. Kennedy Institute in Dorchester.
“I don’t believe it could ever be anything other than that,” Biden said, according to a statement issued after his remarks to a crowd of some 600 people who gathered at the institute’s Columbia Point headquarters to hear him speak. “It can never be no.’”
Biden, a Delaware Democrat who served for years alongside Kennedy, D-Mass., when both men were in the U.S. Senate, told the crowd that “America is not a fairy tale.”
“For 250 years, it’s been a constant push and pull. An existential struggle between peril and possibility,” he continued. “Perhaps it’s the unwavering optimism of my friend Teddy that causes me to say I believe that the America of our dreams is always closer than we think.”
Biden, who left office last year after dropping out of the 2024 presidential race, praised Kennedy, who died in 2009, aged 77, for his optimism and his belief that “our issues were all about making life better for people, for all Americans.”
“By assuring they had access to a good job, decent health care, which Teddy called the cause of his life,” Biden said, according to the statement. “Teddy believed in the power of our democracy to pull our nation through the worst of moments.”
The award to Biden came as the institute on Morrissey Boulevard in Dorchester celebrated its 10th anniversary. Former Boston Mayor Martin Walsh and retired U.S. Navy Admiral Lisa Franchetti were also expected to be honored.
Former U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who served as secretary of state during Biden’s tenure as vice president, was to serve as an honorary chairperson of the event, WCVB-TV in Boston reported.
The institute, founded in 2015 at the behest of Kennedy’s widow, Victoria Reggie Kennedy, is “the leading voice for bipartisanship in the United States,” its board chairman, Bruce A. Percelay, said, according to the statement.
“The Edward M. Kennedy Institute is more relevant today than it has ever been, and at a time when it is needed most,” Percelay told guests.
“You cannot find common ground in a vacuum, you cannot find common ground in an echo chamber, and our strategy of bringing the right and left together is achieving tangible results,” he continued.
“Ted Kennedy said what unites us is far more powerful than what divides us, and your support of his vision is an investment not only in this incredible institute but in democracy itself,” he said.
The institute frequently hosts high-profile speakers from across party lines in its efforts to further a more civil national dialogue.
That includes former Republican Vice President Mike Pence, who spoke earlier this month on the need for civility in government.
Biden’s appearance in Boston comes after the 82-year-old completed a round of radiation treatment for prostate cancer, CBS News reported.
The news is encouraging, but does not signal the end of Biden’s treatment, the network reported.
Biden won the White House in 2020, defeating President Donald Trump. He abandoned his 2024 reelection bid under pressure from his fellow Democrats, throwing his backing to former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump, a Republican, defeated Harris last November, winning a second term and recapturing the White House.
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Storied investors Accel and Prosus have launched a new investment partnership to back Indian startups from day zero, targeting founders building large-scale solutions with the potential to serve the masses in the South Asian nation.
Announced on Monday, the collaboration marks the first time Prosus is investing at the formation stage. Both firms will co-invest from a startup’s earliest days, with a focus on companies addressing systemic challenges across sectors such as automation, energy transition, internet services, and manufacturing.
India, the world’s most populous country with over 1.4 billion people, is seeing rapid growth in its digital economy. The country has more than a billion internet users and over 700 million smartphone users, making it the second-largest smartphone market after China. The Indian government-backed platforms such as the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Aadhaar have created a digital infrastructure that enables startups to build and scale services quickly. Yet much of India’s startup activity to date has focused on adapting global business models, with fewer companies tackling large-scale domestic challenges. The Accel–Prosus alliance is looking to change that.
The partnership expands Accel’s early-stage founder program, Atoms X, launched in July to back what the firm calls “leap tech” startups — companies working on large-scale, systems-driven problems.
“We feel now the time is right for the Indian startup ecosystem to move from adapting global businesses to creating Indian models that help India leapfrog its journey in becoming a developed country,” said Pratik Agarwal, a partner at Accel, in an interview.
He added that startups working on population-scale solutions often struggle to raise sufficient early capital, given their long gestation periods and the risk of heavy dilution before reaching meaningful traction.
“Hopefully, we are bringing a lot more early capital to them at the right time so that they can make substantial progress without going through several rounds of false starts before they make progress,” he told TechCrunch.
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Under the partnership, Prosus has committed to match Accel’s investment in each company, with initial checks ranging from $100,000 to $1 million — a figure that could increase over time.
“We could both continue to do our own things in this space, but given how large the ambition is with these founders, and given how difficult a problem that they are trying to solve, it made all the sense for us to put our resources together,” said Ashutosh Sharma, head of India ecosystem at Prosus.
Traditionally, Prosus has focused on late-stage investments globally. The Amsterdam-headquartered firm counts Swiggy, Meesho, and PayU among its key investments in India.
While Prosus has committed to matching Accel’s investment in this partnership, Sharma indicated it is not seeking an equivalent equity stake.
“For us, getting that equity in the first round is not important at all,” he told TechCrunch. “If we can truly identify a Swiggy, a Meesho, an iFood, or a Tencent of tomorrow — today — that is success enough.”
The partnership also broadens the scope of Accel and Prosus’s activity in India. In recent months, the two firms have co-invested in startups such as AI-powered tutoring platform Arivihan and low-cost internet service provider Wiom.
“Because of this AI-led disruption that is happening around us, some countries will be disproportionate beneficiaries of this — and some countries will be disproportionate net, net losers,” said Sharma. “Two countries that seem very placed to be beneficiaries are the U.S. and China. Now in that world order, and in that world narrative, what is India’s space? And can India, therefore, as part of this ‘leap tech’ revolution, find the rightful place, not just in AI, but beyond AI, is the other, let’s say, ambition that we have with this program.”
The alliance comes amid growing geopolitical tensions that have disrupted capital flows, technology supply chains, and market access — prompting global investors to reassess where capital can be deployed safely and at scale. With a large domestic market, expanding digital infrastructure, and a deepening pool of technical talent, India is increasingly seen as a strategic priority in this landscape.
“India’s place in the global economy and the geopolitical system is such that India needs to chart and accelerate its path like a self-sovereign, independent, developed country,” Agarwal told TechCrunch.
Accel has already backed more than 40 startups through its early-stage program, Atoms. Over 30% of them have gone on to raise follow-on funding from external investors, with Accel itself leading more than half of those rounds.
VC funding in India fell 25% year-over-year to $4.8 billion in the first half of 2025, per Tracxn, with late-stage deals dropping 27% to $2.7 billion and early-stage funding down 16% to $1.6 billion.
Still, India remains a key focus for global investors, driven by its large population and expanding digital adoption. In September, eight U.S. and Indian VC and private equity firms — including Accel, Blume Ventures, Celesta Capital, and Premji Invest — formed a coalition to back deep tech startups with over $1 billion in commitment. The Accel–Prosus partnership is the latest example of how global VCs continue to place long-term bets on India.
According to a report from The Information, OpenAI is interested in developing a tool that could generate music from text and audio prompts, and has been working with students from The Juilliard School to help with creating training data. The company envisions something that could be used to generate guitar accompaniment for a vocal track, for example, or to add music to videos, sources with knowledge of the project told the publication.
There’s no word on how far into these efforts OpenAI is. According to one source that spoke to The Information, OpenAI enlisted the Juilliard students to annotate music scores, which could be used to train the AI. It wouldn’t be the first time the company has explored music-generating AI, and it’s something we’re seeing more and more of elsewhere with other startups, like Suno and ElevenLabs, launching their own versions. AI spam is already cluttering up streaming platforms and, lest we forget, there was the whole The Velvet Sundown debacle. It’s only the beginning.
If there’s one thing Google is good at with Pixel, it’s color. This year, “Indigo” is the standout color, even if it’s not on the flagship series, and my new Pixel Watch band reminded me just how good “Indigo” is.
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First used on the base Pixel 10 and pitched as a revival of 2016’s “Really Blue” Pixel, “Indigo” is just such a nice color in person. On the phone, it’s not quite as vibrant as Google’s marketing makes it look, but it still stands out in a sea of bland smartphones. While some of my initial excitement about this color has worn off, I still wish it was available for Google’s Pro devices – if only because it would be drop-dead gorgeous with a matte finish – the Pixel Watch just revived it.
Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been wearing the “Indigo” color of the Pixel Watch Active Sport Band, and I love it.
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I mean, just look at it.
So good.
This color is just so vibrant and unique and fits a watch band perfectly. The perfect split between purple and blue lets it fit into most situations without being too loud, but the vibrant hue also means it just looks stunning. It’s almost enough to where I want to buy the Woven Band in the same color, even though I really dislike how that band feels.
I’m still pretty keen for Google to make a red Pixel product after seeing its “Berry” debut on the latest Nest Cam, but “Indigo” is quite simply my favorite color from the Pixel lineup in years, so I’d also be pretty happy to see it stick around for another generation. The Pixel 8 Pro’s “Bay” is nice for similar reasons, but “Indigo” just stands out further from everything else on the market. It might even top the Pixel 4’s “Oh So Orange” as my favorite Pixel color to date.
What do you think about Google Pixel’s “Indigo” this year? Have you purchased any Pixel products in this color?
This Week’s Top Stories
Android XR is actually here now
Google’s Android XR platform is officially in the wild. With the launch of Samsung’s Galaxy XR headset, you can now try the mixed-reality experience at the cost of $1,799. Though, it’s important to note that Samsung’s software experience is very much in charge here – this is no Pixel with Galaxy branding.
The Galaxy S26 series is falling apart
Samsung’s plans for the Galaxy S26 series are actively crumbling. Following the reveal that the Galaxy S26 Edge is dead and that the whole lineup is shuffling, it was revealed this week that Samsung is behind schedule and delaying the whole series by several weeks. Yikes.
The historic turret clock on the Masonic Building at 113-115 State Street at the apex of State and Main Streets in Springfield was restored. A lighting ceremony was held on Friday evening, October 18, 2025. (Dave Roback photo)Dave Roback
SPRINGFIELD – A project to restore four historic downtown buildings and provide market-rate housing is expected to start next spring.
Last week the City Council granted a special permit allowing renovations of the vacant buildings, which are considered significant to the city’s downtown. The project will create 111 apartments as well as retail and commercial space.
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Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility!
I am sure you are waiting to learn the results of last week’s poll. (Reminder: Sign up for the Mobility newsletter to participate in our polls!) Here is what I asked: “What is the best business model for autonomous vehicle tech? (Keep profitability in mind.)”
Far and away, readers think longer-haul delivery is the best bet, with 40% picking this option. Robotaxis came in next with 25.5% of the vote, followed by licensing tech to automakers at 19.1% and last-mile delivery with 14.9%. One reader emailed to point out that I didn’t include warehouse applications like autonomous forklifts. The longer-haul delivery category can be broken down further, though, and is worth another poll, which we included in this week’s newsletter.
In the long list of arguments one might make to justify a $1 trillion compensation package, having control over a robot army was certainly not on my mind. And yet, this is the argument Elon Musk made during Tesla’s third-quarter earnings call.
Here’s the rundown: On November 6, shareholders will vote whether to approve a board-endorsed compensation package that would grant Musk up to 12% of Tesla’s stock. If the company hits its target market value of $8.6 trillion, that package would be worth about $1 trillion.
The board and Musk have spent weeks lobbying shareholders to approve the measure, even as proxy advisers Institutional Shareholder Services and Glass Lewis have recommended that investors reject it. Musk is now in attack mode, which was on display at the end of the earnings call when he called the firms corporate terrorists and made his final pitch. His robot army argument centers on power and control, not so much money. Although, hey, money can provide both.
“My biggest concern line: If we build this robot army, do I have a strong influence over that robot army? I don’t feel comfortable building a robot army if I don’t have a strong influence,” Musk said during the earnings call. He was referring to Tesla’s Optimus robot program and used it as an example of products he wants full control over.
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That argument will hardly persuade Musk’s critics, particularly in the wake of his role as head of the Department of Government Efficiency. But Musk doesn’t need to convince his growing list of critics, unless, of course, they own Tesla shares.
A little bird
Image Credits:Bryce Durbin
This week, General Motors dropped the ax on the BrightDrop electric van program after four short years. It was not the biggest surprise in the world; after all, hundreds of unsold vans have been sitting untouched in lots in Michigan and Canada for months now. (One little bird reached out to tell us that hundreds of them are in a lot in Flint, Michigan.) GM cited a slower-than-expected market for commercial electric vans, but it didn’t go into detail about why, exactly, BrightDrop failed so miserably.
Another little bird has given us a clue, though. The vans are pricey but well-liked and should save fleet owners money over time. And electric drivetrains are a great fit for last-mile delivery. What GM appears to have missed was the infrastructure piece, according to one insider. The company leaned hard on outside partnerships to build out so-called depot charging, instead of offering it as part of the fleet purchases. That turned a number of potential customers away and just generally caused headaches.
The big deal this week is about EVs and AI data centers. Yes, there is a connection.
Redwood Materialsraised $350 million in a Series E round led by venture firm Eclipse, and included a new strategic investment by Nvidia’s venture capital arm, NVentures. The company’s valuation was not disclosed, but a source familiar with the round told TechCrunch it was about $6 billion, a billion dollars higher than its previous valuation.
The chunk of this money is going toward Redwood’s new energy storage business, which is giving a new purpose to EV batteries it has collected and that have too much life left to put through the recycling process. The company ties these retired EV batteries to renewable energy sources like wind and solar, or the grid, to power AI data centers or industrial sites.
Other deals that got my attention this week …
Avride secured strategic investments and other commitments of up to $375 million, backed by Uber and Nebius. None of these companies gave me specifics when asked if this was all equity. One insider did say to pay attention to the “other commitments” bit, which suggests it was not a straight cash injection.
Spiro, the African electric motorbike startup headquartered in Dubai, raised $100 million in a round led by the Fund for Export Development in Africa (FEDA), the development arm of Afreximbank. This is the largest raise ever for African e-mobility.
Notable reads and other tidbits
Image Credits:Bryce Durbin
General Motors made several announcements at an event in NYC that were meant to show where it’s headed. And, yes, AI plays a central role. Before AI could take the stage, GM said it will overhaul the electrical and computational guts of its future vehicles. The company will roll out a new electric architecture and centralized computing platform in new vehicles, starting with the Cadillac Escalade IQ in 2028. That foundation will allow the company to deliver faster software; more capable automated driving features, including eyes-off driving; and a custom, conversational AI assistant.
Earnings season is upon us, and this quarter I am watching for data and executive commentary that helps me understand how tariffs and the expired EV tax credit are affecting the automotive sector. I don’t have any clear takeaways yet — and probably won’t until the next quarter.
Tariffs are hitting, Q3 reports from GM and Ford indicate. For instance, GM forecast that tariffs will reduce its 2025 profits by $2.3 billion and Ford said it would take a $2 billion bite out of the bottom line. But both of those projections are billions of dollars better than the automakers predicted earlier this year, and the automakers hope to offset those costs. CEOs from both automakers thanked President Trump for extending a relief measure from tariffs on automotive parts sourced from Canada and Mexico.
Some other GM and Ford news: Ford will continue to pause production of its F-150 Lightning trucks as it prioritizes gas and hybrid F-Series versions in a bid to recover from a fire at its primary aluminum supplier Nevolis. Meanwhile, GM CEO Mary Barra told the Verge’s Decoder podcast that the company will drop support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto from all of its vehicles. Oh, and late-breaking: GM has laid off 200 salaried workers from its Warren Tech Center.
Tesladelivered a record number of vehicles in the third quarter of 2025, results buoyed by U.S. customers who took advantage of the expiring federal EV tax credit. That didn’t translate to greater earnings. Tesla’s third-quarter profit was $1.4 billion, 37% lower than it was in the same quarter last year.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administrationopened an investigation after seeing footage from early October of a Waymo autonomous vehicle maneuvering around a stopped school bus that was unloading kids in Atlanta.
Rivian is undergoing a bit of a shake-up that includes cutting 600 people from its workforce (its third round of layoffs this year), and its founder and CEO is taking on yet another position: chief marketing officer. Rivian also agreed this week to pay $250 million to settle a class-action shareholder lawsuit filed after the company suddenly hiked prices on its R1 pickup truck and SUV in 2022.
Meanwhile, I spent some time in the Bay Area with executives from Rivian’s micromobility spinout company Also. The company revealed three new products, and if Also president Chris Yu and Rivian CEO RJ Scaringe (and Also board member) are to be believed, there will be even more coming. For now, it’s a slick modular pedal-assist e-bike and two pedal-assist quad vehicles — the delivery van version that Amazon has already agreed to buy. The big compelling tech story here is vertical integration and software.
The League Championship Series are history, and the final two teams have emerged: The 2025 Fall Classic will see the Los Angeles Dodgers face the Toronto Blue Jays. Game 2 of the 2025 MLB World Series begins tonight — Saturday, Oct. 25 — at 8PM ET/5PM PT, with the Blue Jays getting the initial home field advantage at Rogers Centre, Toronto for the second night in a row. Shohei Ohtani and the Dodgers are aiming to win their second consecutive championship, while Vlad Guerrero Jr. and the Blue Jays are eyeing their first ring since 1993. Despite Toronto’s victory over Los Angeles last night, the World Series odds still favor the Dodgers ahead of Game 2. Every 2025 MLB World Series game will air on Fox and Fox Deportes.
Of course, Fox is a “free” over-the-air channel, so any affordable digital antenna will pull in the game if you live close enough to a local affiliate. But if that’s not an option, here’s a full rundown of how to watch the Dodgers vs. Blue Jays World Series, even without cable.
How to watch the L.A. Dodgers vs. Toronto Blue Jays, Game 2
You can stream Fox on any live TV streaming service that airs Fox local stations, including DirecTV, Fubo and Hulu + Live TV. MLB World Series games will also be available on Fox’s new streaming platform, Fox One.
DirecTV gets you access to Fox and FS1, the channels you need to watch the World Series, plus the CW, ABC, CBS, Fox, ACC Network, Big Ten Network, SEC Network and plenty more local regional sports networks.
DirecTV also offers unlimited Cloud DVR storage and access to ESPN+’s new streaming tier, ESPN Unlimited. That’s all part of why we named it the best cable TV alternative without a contract.
The best part is that you can try all this out for free for five days. So if you’re interested in a live TV streaming service but aren’t ready to commit, we recommend starting with DirecTV.
We named Fubo the best live TV streaming service for sports, and it’s not just because it’s a great place to watch the World Series. Fubo TV gives you access to 100-plus live channels, including Fox and FS1. The cheapest plan starts at $85/month, making the live TV streaming service a significant investment. However, the inclusion of ESPN Unlimited, a $30/month value, is a great deal if you watch sports year-round. Fubo subscribers also get access to unlimited cloud DVR storage.
Currently, the platform is offering a free trial, allowing you to explore everything it has to offer risk-free.
Hulu’s live TV tier includes access to live TV channels like Fox, Fox Deportes, ESPN, ABC, NBC, and more. That means you can watch this year’s World Series live as it happens, and enjoy over 95 other channels — not to mention take advantage of all the great shows streaming on Hulu, Disney+ and ESPN Select, all of which are included at no extra charge.
You’ll also enjoy access to unlimited DVR storage, the ability to stream on multiple devices and more. Right now, you can get your first three months of Hulu + Live TV for $65/month. This special rate ends at 6PM ET/3PM PT on November 5.
Hulu + Live TV starts at $90/month after this deal ends.
Fox One is exactly what it sounds like — a one-stop streaming destination for the entire universe of Fox content, including a ton of sports (Fox Sports, Fox FS1, FS2, Fox Deportes, Big Ten Network), news and opinion (Fox News, Fox Business, Fox Weather) and local Fox stations, too. That means you can watch every World Series game in one place.
Fox One offers live programming, as well as shows and movies on demand. At launch, the base price for Fox One costs $20 a month, or you can save with an annual subscription for $200. You can also bundle Fox One with ESPN’s newly revamped streaming service for $40/month.
Game 1 of the Dodgers vs. Blue Jays World Series begins on Friday, Oct. 24 at 8PM ET/5PM PT. The Blue Jays are hosting the first two games of the series at Rogers Centre, Toronto.
What channel is playing the Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Toronto Blue Jays?
Life360, the company that owns Tile, has just announced a new Pet GPS collar that costs $50 and looks like a pretty good alternative to Fi, a popular brand in the space.
The new Life360 Pet GPS collar taps into the same ecosystem as Tile trackers and Life360’s family tracking services, except for pets. The collar attaches to your pet’s existing collar and offers geofences, live location updates, and also the ability to send an alert to nearby Life360 members if your pet is lost.
Geofences: Set up places on your Life360 map to track where your pet roams regularly and get alerts if they stray, beginning at a radius of 100ft and more.
Smart Alerts: Get instant notifications when your pet leaves their designated places so you can act quickly.
Escaped Pet Mode: Built in safety tools such as a flashing LED light, ring, and instant escape alerts to your Circle help you take quick action and let others know your pet is missing.
Lost Pet Alerts: Missing your pet? Send a Lost Pet Alert through Life360’s Pet Finder Network to notify nearby members (within a ~3 mile radius) and get help locating your pet.
The collar is available in “Pink Punch,” “Navy Blaze,” and black colors. It has IPX8 water resistance and supports up to 14 days of battery life before needing a charge via USB-C, though a special “Reserve” mode can push battery life up to six months.
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As far as pricing, the Life360 Pet GPS Collar itself is $49.99 – or as little as $3.60 for early buyers – but you’ll need one of the company’s premium plans to use it. The Life360 Gold and Platinum plans – $149/yr and $249/yr, respectively – unlock support for the collar alongside a bunch of other perks in the Life360 app. A second pet can be added for $79/yr.
How the Life360 Pet GPS collar compares to Fi
The biggest question here is how the Life360 Pet GPS collar compares to that of Fi, one of the leaders in the connected dog collar space. Compared to the latest Fi Series 3+ release, here are some of the key points that we noticed looking at the two side-by-side:
Life360 Pet Collar
Fi Series 3+ Collar
Collar cost
$49.99
Subscription-only
Monthly cost
$14.99/mo +
$19/mo
Annual cost
$149.99/yr +
$189/yr
Cost for second pet
$79.99/yr extra
Full second subscription cost
Geofence
Yes
Yes
Live tracking updates when lost
Yes
Yes
Use your existing collar
Yes
No
Battery life
14 days
Up to 3 months
There are clearly some advantages from Fi, such as longer battery life, but it’s also at a higher cost over time. As someone who’s personally been using Fi, Life360 seems to offer a pretty good value.
Are you using a connected collar for your pets? What do you think of Life360’s new tracker?
The new zoning changes recently approved for downtown — paving the way for taller skyscrapers — could have detrimental effects on the venerated cherry blossoms, weeping willows and tulips of Boston’s Public Garden, advocates say.
The country’s first botanical garden — established in 1837 — is likely to see less sunlight as a result of the code revision, according to Leslie Adam, board chair of the advocacy group Friends of the Public Garden.
Adam, who opposed the zoning overhaul in front of the Boston Zoning Commission this week, argued the state’s “shadow laws” — put in place more than 35 years ago as “essential protections for two of Boston’s most iconic parks,” the Public Garden and Boston Common — are not adequate as written to prevent damage caused by new, taller shadows.
Special exemptions allowed for the then-Midtown Cultural District under the decades-old shadow laws will now be applied to even taller buildings — 500 feet or higher — without any adjustments 35 years later, according to Adam.
Shadow laws are regulations that limit the amount of new shadows that new buildings can cast upon the Boston Common and Public Garden, and at what times.
Adam said this week’s changes will mean “hours of new shadows” across both the Public Garden and Boston Common every day.
Sunlight is “essential” for the health of the two landmark urban green spaces and the people who frequent them, she said.
Meanwhile, Boston planning staff contend any new development will go through an already-mandated review process that includes shadow analysis.
“We are committed to enforcing the state shadow law to protect the Common and Public Garden,” said Kairos Shen, chief of planning for the city of Boston. “Second, any development proposal to be processed under the new zoning will go through the Article 80 development review process, where there will be in-depth community engagement to assess and mitigate the potential impacts of that specific proposal, including any impacts that would impact historic aspects as well as the open spaces.”
More than 80 species of plants are cultivated by Boston Parks and Recreation for plantings at the famed Public Garden each year, and more than 1,700 mature trees call the space home, including magnolias, horse chestnuts, dawn redwoods and ginkgo trees.
During peak tulip season this year, more than 31,000 flowers bloomed — a tradition that started in 1846.
Pedestrians walk through the Boston Public Garden beyond an entrance gate, Tuesday, May 23, 2006, in Boston. When its design was completed in 1859, it was the only botanical public garden in the country. (AP Photo/Lisa Poole) AP
What are the zoning changes?
The changes, unanimously approved Wednesday by the Boston Zoning Commission, are part of Boston’s PLAN: Downtown initiative, a larger overhaul of the convoluted zoning code.
The zoning changes for downtown, stretching from Boston Common to the Rose Kennedy Greenway, will allow developers to construct new buildings up to 700 feet tall, or about 70 stories, in some areas. Closer to the Common, heights will be capped at 100 to 155 feet.
Michael Nichols, the Zoning Commission chair who recused himself from the final vote because of his work with a downtown business advocacy group, recently told Boston Magazine there are only “four to six” spots where a new 700-foot tower could be built.
The skyline of downtown Boston.(Tréa Lavery/MassLive)
During Wednesday’s meeting, representatives from the city’s Planning Department clarified that the only new area where a 700-foot height is possible is north of State Street, which they said is far enough from the Public Garden and Boston Common not to cast shadows on them.
Currently, the tallest building in downtown is Winthrop Center at 691 feet and 52 stories tall, which was completed last year. The next-tallest is the Millennium Tower, at 684 feet and 60 stories; and the South Station tower reaches 677 feet and 51 stories.
Any residential development will have to set aside 20% of the units created as affordable housing under the existing inclusionary zoning rules.
This map shows the new downtown zoning changes related to building height approved by the Boston Zoning Commission in October 2025.Courtesy City of Boston
But the proposal merited significant pushback, particularly from neighborhood associations and historic preservation advocates. Some opponents said the changes represent “the ‘Manhattanization’ of Boston.”
Still, the proposal received widespread support Wednesday from the Boston Zoning Commission with a vote of 10-0 — the last major hurdle to clear before heading to Mayor Michelle Wu for her signature.
At the meeting, business alliances, housing advocacy groups and labor unions argued the revamped zoning is essential to revitalizing a struggling downtown economy and creating more housing.
Opponents, though, queried whether the changes would actually produce affordable housing — and not more luxury condominiums with high price points.
In a statement following the vote, Wu said, “As post-pandemic challenges impact downtowns across the country, this new zoning will help Boston spur new housing, eliminate zoning hurdles for businesses, support more office-to-residential conversions, and infuse new vitality in this important neighborhood and commercial core.”
Advocacy will continue despite zoning vote
Adam, of the Friends of the Public Garden, emphasized her organization isn’t opposed to the continued growth of downtown. Rather, they wanted shadow impacts to be studied for each building project proposal using updated sunshine modeling — and for the city to only allow the Midtown Cultural District exemptions if projects pass muster, not by right.
“We know through science there are ways to do this. And we always think of the long-term, ensuring the parks are here today but also for the next generations ahead of us,” Adam said Friday in an interview with MassLive. “We believe that talking about excellence means digging deeper,”rather than defaulting to 35-year-old exemptions that don’t account for the new allowable heights.
The cherry blossom trees show their flowers to onlookers in Boston Common on Thursday, April 4, 2025 in Boston, Mass.Sebastian Restrepo
Shen, Boston’s chief of planning, said any new development will go through the Article 80 review process — the city’s guidelines for reviewing a project’s impacts — which requires a shadow analysis.
Andrew Nahmias, a senior planner with the Boston Planning and Development Agency, said the new zoning is designed to further reinforce shadow regulations by explicitly incorporating them into the code.
Those regulations supersede city zoning, Nahmias said, and can only be changed through state-level action.
The state shadow laws were originally enacted in the late 1980s and early 90s in response to the Park Plaza development.
Adam said there is already precedent for them being overridden, pointing to the Winthrop Square Tower, a contentious building project that started in 2017.
State Rep. Jay Livingstone, D-8th Suffolk, whose district includes both the Public Garden and Boston Common, argued the current shadow laws, as written, can’t “represent a backstop of protection.”
“Both our iconic parks are intertwined with Boston’s identity,” he said. “When Boston is shown on TV, it is very commonly an image of one of these two parks.”
Adam said the Friends of the Public Garden will continue their advocacy work despite Wednesday’s vote. “It’s not been a fun week,” she quipped.
“We cannot just sit back because if we sit back, we potentially lose the legacy and the long-run vision,” Adam said. “We’re safeguarding sunlight and civic life for the future.”
MassLive Reporter Tréa Lavery contributed to this story.
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