CREW Boston’s November luncheon at Mandarin Oriental Boston focused on the City’s planning efforts leading into 2030 and beyond. The event centered around the question of who we want to be as a city in 15 years and how these planning efforts can help us to get there.
The panel discussion was moderated by Tim Logan, commercial real estate reporter at The Boston Globe. Panelists included:
- Rebekah Emanuel, Executive Director, Imagine Boston 2030
- Gina Fiandanca, Commissioner of Boston Transportation Department overseeing Go Boston 2030
- Julie Burros, Chief of Arts and Culture, Boston Creates
- Carl Spector, Commissioner of Environment Department overseeing Climate Ready Boston
The event kicked off with an overview of Imagine Boston 2030, the City’s planning initiative which is working to define a vision for Boston leading up to its 400th birthday and beyond and provide a roadmap to realize that vision. As Boston’s first citywide plan in 50 years, Imagine Boston 2030 will create a framework to preserve and enhance Boston while embracing growth as a means to address our challenges and make the city stronger and more inclusive. Since Imagine Boston 2030 launched in the fall of 2015, Mayor Walsh charged Imagine Boston 2030 with asking the city’s residents about how they envision our city as we plan for the future. The draft plan released on the day of our panel puts what they heard into action.
The City is undergoing multiple planning efforts, which are all knit together under the umbrella of Imagine Boston 2030:
- Go Boston 2030 is the City’s mobility planning initiative for the next 15 years that has been working seamlessly with Imagine Boston to make sure that projects and policies are closely aligned.
- Boston Creates is the City’s first ever cultural plan and is something that Mayor Walsh committed to as a candidate. The plan is recognition on part of the administration on the key roles that arts and culture plays in health and vitality and well being of the city.
- Climate Ready Boston is an ongoing initiative to develop resilient solutions to prepare the City for climate change.
Here are four key themes that came out of the panel discussion:
- Boston is growing. More and more people want to call Boston home. We need to strengthen connections between neighborhoods and core job centers to help accommodate this growth.
- We need to be agile as we plan for the future. We can’t necessarily anticipate what we will need our city to be in the next 5, 10, or 15 years. We need to continue to be nimble as we build, learn and iterate. And we need to be open about frequently checking our metrics and readjusting our approach as needs shift.
- Impacts of climate change are imminent. Boston is the fourth most exposed city in the country to climate change. As a city, we need to prepare for these changes and understand our vulnerabilities, both short- and long-term. No matter how successful we are in reducing greenhouse gas emissions around the world, we still need to ensure that our planning and growth in Boston happens in a way that is safe and consider how it will affect the city’s health, people and infrastructure. It’s not just about future development; most of the building that will be in Boston 50 years from now are already built. We need to think about how those buildings will adapt to climate change.
- Collaboration is key. The City knows that plans need to be integrated as much as possible in order to use funding in the most efficient way. The key is for all of the leaders of the City’s planning efforts to communicate effectively in order to bring one or more projects together to find synergies that can maximize our resources.
Plans are living documents and at times, can be challenging to implement. All of these plans were formatted in ways that are accessible to people and will stay accessible for decades to come. More importantly, they are also designed to be fluid and flexible to adapt to the changing needs of our city over the next 15 years. I’m excited to see them come to life and evolve!