The photograph gracing the cover of James O'Connell's The Hub's Metropolis offers an expansive bird's-eye view of greater Boston. The foreground depicts the clearly distinguishable parks, single-family homes, old textile mills, and squat department stores of contemporary Waltham, Massachusetts. Barely discernible in the distance, beyond the network of highways, clusters of housing, and patches of greenery, the high-rise towers of downtown appear marginal and anomalous. It is from this peripheral vantage point that O'Connell invites readers to consider the evolution of Boston's metropolitan landscape. Given the magnitude of suburban growth over the past century, this refreshing perspective would be appropriate for the study of most American cities. It is especially apt for Boston, where surrounding communities have long exceeded the central core city in both population and acreage.
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机译：詹姆斯·奥康奈尔（James O'Connell）的《 The Hub's Metropolis》封面上的照片为波士顿提供了广阔的鸟瞰图。前景色描绘了马萨诸塞州沃尔瑟姆（Waltham）清晰可见的公园，单户住宅，旧纺织厂和蹲着的百货商店。在远处几乎看不见，除了高速公路网，房屋群和绿地之外，市区的高层塔楼显得边缘而异常。正是从这种外围优势出发，O'Connell邀请读者考虑波士顿大都市景观的演变。考虑到上个世纪郊区增长的规模，这种令人耳目一新的观点将适合大多数美国城市的研究。它尤其适合波士顿，在波士顿，周围的社区在人口和面积上早已超过了中心城市。
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