Creating a Resilient City
June 19, 2015
The City of Boston was recently selected as a grantee within the 100 Resilient Cities program run by the world renowned Rockefeller Foundation. The program is dedicated to helping cities become more resilient to the physical, social and economic challenges that are a growing part of the 21st century. The program aims to assist cities with understanding their threats and developing plans to ensure their preparedness and resilience. A key focus of Boston’s winning proposal was an emphasis placed on “improving water management while fostering social cohesion and equality.”
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As part of the grant, Boston will receive funding to hire a Chief Resiliency Officer, support for the development of a resilience strategy, and access to a network of cities around the world to share best practices. To launch the city’s participation and to provide guidance to the future Chief Resiliency Officer, a full-day retreat was held at Faneuil Hall, an icon of resilience itself; lasting through revolution, civil unrest, urban development, and time itself, but perhaps its greatest challenge still lies ahead: sea level rise. More than 100 representatives from community groups, neighborhoods, business associations, social organizations, and city government attended the facilitated workshop. ABC both attended and served as a facilitator at the event.
Throughout the daylong event, attendees identified and discussed a wide range of potential “shocks” and “stressors” that currently or potentially could threaten the City. These included 50 specific indicators (public health, transport, education); grouped into 12 drivers (meeting basic needs, ensuring public health); and split into four dimensions (Leadership & Strategy, Health & Wellbeing, Economy & Society, and Infrastructure & Environment). The impacts of these events could be localized to specific neighborhoods or impact the entire and City. They could lead to a weakened economy, struggles for specific demographic groups, or full-on collapse of social society. These included some common issues that we are already dealing with: snow storms, failing transportation systems, housing costs, flooding, and terrorism; along with others that are much less common but potentially devastating to the region: disease, sea level rise, social unrest, and natural disasters.
By the end of the day, the group had identified a list of the top five drivers for resilience that included:
-Providing reliable communication and mobility
-Ensuring social stability, security, and justice
-Promoting cohesive and engaged communities
-Supporting livelihoods and employment
-Fostering long-term and integrated planning
These key drivers include several areas of existing focus for ABC, including our:
-Support and lead of efforts to develop comprehensive transportation plans for the City and the region.
-Advocating for new investments in our transportation infrastructure.
-Supporting economic development initiatives that open up new areas of the City to job growth.
- Providing transportation demand management programs that encourage multi-modal mobility.
In addition to these efforts, ABC will continue to educate and inform building owners about resiliency strategies to prepare them for threats of severe storms, sea level rise, and extreme threats. We will continue to update our online Resiliency Toolkit, which provides detailed information on resiliency technologies and products available to building owners, including costs, suppliers, and regulatory requirements.
