Longwood Medical Area is home to some of the most brilliant, innovating, and exciting minds in the region, with the left brain and the right brain represented in equal measure. As the name of the neighborhood suggests, several large medical centers form the centerpiece of the community—Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Boston Medical Center in particular. The south side is rich with museums, with the Museum of Fine Arts and Isabella Stewart Gardner chief among them.

The neighborhood is also packed with schools, colleges, and universities, many of which train in medicine and the arts: Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts College of Art and Design, Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Science, Simmons College, Wheelock College, and Emmanuel College, just to name a few.

The whole area is highly walkable, and nowhere in the neighborhood is more than a few blocks away from lush greenspaces, particularly the lush Riverway and the Emerald Necklace trails.