Outdoor Public Space Wi-fi

The Public Space Wi-fi Playbook: A How-to Guide for Municipalities in Greater Boston

This project came about after the City of Gloucester completed a Digital Equity Planning process in 2025 and sought MAPC’s support in implementing one of that plan's recommended action items: free outdoor Wi-fi in one or more parks near downtown that could both meet people where they are and serve the city’s highest need census tracts. While the City of Gloucester wanted to advance this project, city staff didn’t have direct experience and sought to learn from other communities that did. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) was engaged via the agency’s 2025 technical assistance program (TAP) to provide guidance by identifying and researching precedent public space Wi-fi projects completed in other Massachusetts municipalities, and to conduct outreach interviews with public officials and staff involved in bringing such projects about, with the goal of gathering how-to recommendations and other best practices and lessons learned.

While research and findings were originally conducted to advise the City of Gloucester, the guidance produced is presented below in a way intended to be accessible for any community interested in deploying free Wi-fi internet for members of the public in parks and other open spaces.