Cambridge, Boston and region

WBUR reports on MIT’s plan to create six new buildings in Kendall Square. Three of the buildings would be used for “research and development, two for housing and one for retail and office space.”

CNBC reporter Meg Tirrell reports on the biotechnology boom in Cambridge, explaining that one reason so many biotech companies want to be located in Kendall Square is the area’s proximity to MIT. “Everybody wants to be next to MIT, this hotbed of technology and life sciences work,” says Tirrell.

Norman Leventhal, an MIT alumnus, life member emeritus of the MIT Corporation and real estate developer, died Sunday, reports Bryan Marquard for The Boston Globe. Leventhal is known for building and renovating some of Boston’s most renowned landmarks, including Center Plaza and South Station. 

Professor Susan Silbey sheds light on the political ideologies that influence the debate surrounding parking-space savers in Boston in this article by Luke O’Neil of Boston.com. “In the act of placing a chair or other object in a shoveled out spot, a person is referencing Locke’s labor theory of property,” wrote Silbey in a paper on property law. 

The Boston area is seeing a boom in startups that specialize in the use of artificial intelligence to more effectively market to consumers, writes Michael Fitzgerald for Boston Magazine. Fitzgerald writes about the startups, experts, and technologies from MIT that have helped to initiate this renaissance.