An award-winning comprehensive strategy to guide the city of Boston towards a more resilient future
Climate Ready Boston
The Boston Research Advisory Group reviewed the latest climate science and found the city could experience 36 inches of sea level rise as early as the 2070s
Climate Ready Boston is a roadmap for creating a stronger, more resilient city. Focusing on coastal and riverine flooding, stormwater flooding, and extreme temperatures, the plan identifies strategies to mitigate future risks for our changing environment. Importantly, the strategies look for opportunities for resilience investments to be multi-benefit—addressing hazard mitigation and contributing more broadly to improved quality of life in our city. In this way, resilience becomes a tool for advancing social equity, promoting economic development, and improving opportunities for healthy living and access to green space.
Historically, the story of Boston has been tied to a changing coastline. In Boston’s early years, land fill projects expanded the city outward, creating new land for expanding neighborhoods and commercial areas. Now, with rising seas, the coastline—and flood risk—is changing course and migrating inland. Water, however, isn’t the only risk. Extreme temperatures and heat waves pose significant increasing threats for public health, especially for youth, older residents, and others with preexisting health conditions that make them especially vulnerable to heat.
Climate Ready Boston offers many dynamic adaptive solutions to climate change, like creating protective and floodable waterfront parks
Climate Ready Boston is an initiative to plan for how the city will continue to thrive while adapting to long-term climate change. It has three main components: climate project consensus (completed by the Boston Research Advisory Group), vulnerability assessment, and resilience initiatives. An interdisciplinary team of Arcadis, Sasaki, HR&A Advisors, and the University of Massachusetts Boston completed the report in December 2016.
Building on the latest scientific projections, the vulnerability assessment analyzes how Boston’s people, buildings, infrastructure, and economy will be affected by climate hazards. The analysis maps hazards and quantifies risks from extreme heat, stormwater flooding, sea level rise, and coastal and riverine flooding. Without action, an increasing number of residents, businesses, buildings, and infrastructure systems will be exposed to flooding. For example, by the 2070s, annualized losses from coastal and riverine flooding could amount to $1.4 billion, and exposure to flooding in a 1% annual chance flood (a severe event) could include 14% of Boston’s population (88,000 people), 10% of the city’s K-12 schools, 32 MBTA stations, 240 essential public facilities (law enforcement stations, fire stations, and EMS), and sections of many evacuation routes. In addition, more days of extreme heat—up to 90 days a year about 90 degrees—will pose significant health risks. Mortality rates due to extreme heat are expected to triple with the impacts of climate change in Boston. Sasaki examined the impacts these environmental shocks and stresses could have on vulnerable populations in the city.
Climate risks like flooding continue to affect Boston communities
To mitigate the effects of increased greenhouse gas emissions, we need to act now
The climate resilience initiatives have been organized into four layers and eleven strategies. The layers represent an approach to building resilience at different scales: the community, the shoreline, infrastructure assets, and buildings. The layers are designed to support and reinforce each other.
More broadly, Sasaki developed the Climate Ready Boston graphic brand and identity. The color choices, project logo, and overall graphic style focus on setting an optimistic, hopeful tone, reinforcing the need to view climate adaptation as a broader opportunity for a better city. Sasaki designed the project maps and graphs, focusing on clearly communicating complex ideas to a broad audience.
Addressing the risks identified in the vulnerability assessment, the resilience initiatives include policy, planning, programmatic, and financial strategies that work together to increase Boston’s resilience. Addressing the multiple scales and layers of resilience, the resilience initiatives focus on prepared and connected communities, protected shores, resilient infrastructure, and adapted buildings. Strategies include leveraging climate adaptation as a tool for equitable economic development, expanding education and engagement of Bostonians on climate hazards and action, and expanding the use of green infrastructure and other natural systems to manage stormwater and mitigate heat. An overarching goal is to ensure investments in reducing risk will also be contributing to higher quality of life in the city—especially for its most vulnerable residents.
The Social Vulnerability Analysis demonstrates how climate change will disproportionately impact Boston’s vulnerable residents. The plan analyzed vulnerabilities, risks, and strategies for seven types of vulnerable populations.
The plan defines social vulnerability as the social groups disproportionately susceptible to the impacts of hazards, including death, injury, loss, or disruption of livelihood
Without action, today’s 100-year floodplain will become exposed to high tide flooding at least once a month by the 2070s
Projections for sea level rise based on various emission scenarios
Annualized losses due to flooding are projected to increase steeply
By the end of the century, areas exposed to flooding from coastal storms will more than triple
Projections for sea level rise based on various emission scenarios
Annualized losses due to flooding are projected to increase steeply
By the end of the century, areas exposed to flooding from coastal storms will more than triple
Climate Ready Boston is led by the City of Boston in partnership with the Green Ribbon Commission and with support from the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management. The Climate Ready Boston report is available on the city’s website.
Buildings in these areas will be severely impacted by flooding
East Boston has the most land area of all Boston neighborhoods exposed to coastal storms in the coming decades. The East Boston Greenway, Maverick Square, and the Sumner and Callahan Tunnels will be exposed the most.
