Cemeteries are spaces where life and death are rendered materially. Despite death’s omnipresence, American burial customs are rooted in outdated traditions that push burial spaces to the outskirts of our cities and the grievers into spaces of isolation. Attitudes toward death have changed radically, and we need more democratic practices and new spaces for grief. This thesis imagines a new architectural typology and department within the Boston city government, the Department of Death, to provide an expanded set of death-related services.