St. Peter’s Square is an urban space for major urban celebrations. This space is made positive by the principles of lateral enclose by the surrounding colonnade which also fuses the surrounding edge to the outdoor space. The freestanding vertical accent (the Obelisk) unites the central axis of the approach from the city and the Vatican entry with Michelangelo’s magnificent dome. At the same time the vertical accent places the Bernini’s twin fountains (on its secondary axis) aligning the fountains to a proper relationship to site the Vatican building front.
Hence, the city, surrounding neighborhoods, and the monumentality of the Vatican building façade become united (by symmetry and balance) to this particular public urban space.
Unfortunately, none of these principles exist in the present design configuration of Boston City Hall Plaza.