Public meetings this week look at a small proposed rezoning in North Cambridge; an idea about limiting lab locations; Garden Street traffic changes; and an analysis of MBTA plans to extend silver line commuter rail service to Everett and surrounding communities.

A citizen zoning petition that would promote housing by limiting where labs can go in the city was rejected by the Planning Board, called too broad and confusingly written to be improved for reconsideration before expiring.

Public meetings this week look at Garden Street traffic changes and the city’s tree canopy; zoning for climate resilience, limits on labs and a two-block rezoning in North Cambridge; and bilingual staff, gender-inclusive forms and improvements in vocational education.

When Harvard professors Michael E. Porter and Mark Kramer published a 2011 Harvard Business Review article on “Creating Shared Value,” they probably never imagined it would be local teens championing the cause.

Public meetings this week look at street cleaning without tows, green zoning, a municipal property inventory; conservative “birthing” clinics, board Stipends and bank frontage; and zoning to decide where labs are allowed.

In a look ahead at a week of Cambridge and Somerville events, Petsi Pies founder Renee McLeod shares her secrets for a good cause, a Holiday Plant Enthusiast Market is coming, there are open studios by Brickbottom/Joy Street artists, Robert Pinsky reads, “Something Strange” returns and much more.

A citizen zoning petition was forwarded Monday by the City Council that might regulate where labs can go in Cambridge, possibly prohibiting biotech construction in places such as Central, Harvard, Porter and Inman squares or major thoroughfares such as Cambridge Street and Broadway. 

Public meetings this week look at zoning for labs and North Massachusetts Avenue, the school superintendent’s contract, an Alewife neighborhood planning update, and Historical Commission consideration of bike lane projects on Garden Street and apartments in Harvard Square.

Public meetings in Somerville this week look at life-sciences projects proposed for Porter Square, Assembly Square and Boynton Yards, as well as more development for Porter, job creation, school repairs and maintenance, and more.

Union 2 Associates could give Somervillians everything from a skating rink to a branch library in Union Square. But needed approvals may start with another developer.