PROJECT HISTORY
The challenge
Boston faces a range of climate-induced impacts that threaten its people, economy and neighborhoods. The city needed a plan to safeguard its future.
City of Boston
Improving Boston’s resilience at all scales
The solution
In 2015, the city launched Climate Ready Boston, a comprehensive roadmap to protect its people and infrastructure from climate change impacts.
The Impact
Through this initiative, the City of Boston has successfully improved its resilience and ability to anticipate and adapt to its climate-related risks.
1,000+
Bostonians participated in the planning process
15,000+
homes and businesses assessed for risk
The challenge
In 2015, Boston had already been experiencing the effects of climate change for many years. Rising sea levels, hotter summers and increasingly intense storms posed a real risk to the city’s people, economy and neighborhoods. Weather-related events threatened homes, businesses and critical infrastructure and Boston residents faced significant interruptions to daily life, displacement or even physical harm. As the climate continued to change, these risks would only increase and become more frequent. The City of Boston required a solution to address and adapt to climate risks to protect its residents and preserve its future.
The solution
To address this challenge, the City of Boston, with support from Arcadis and a team of experts, created the Climate Ready Boston initiative. The city’s leaders knew they needed more than just a plan—they needed a vision for the future that paired protective measures with new infrastructure to promote health, safety and equity, which is what Climate Ready Boston aimed to do.
The first step was understanding Boston’s vulnerabilities. The team conducted a thorough evaluation of the most pressing natural hazards, including extreme heat, stormwater flooding and rising sea levels. From calculating the economic impact of business disruptions to identifying populations with notable vulnerability to climate impacts, the assessments painted a clear picture of the challenges ahead in terms of present-day and future risks to people, systems and infrastructure, and the potential cost of inaction, which could have been billions of dollars.
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Arcadis and the city also worked with local stakeholders, from community members to public agencies, to identify and plan solutions that would meet Boston’s unique needs related to climate resilience. The unique features of the plan included a focus on community-centered approaches based on extensive community engagement, solutions that work with and restore natural systems to reduce risks, and measures to harden and protect critical infrastructure while preserving the city’s historic character and waterfront vitality. Building on this foundation, they developed an actionable roadmap with five layers of resilience that were developed based on the identified risks and close engagement with Boston stakeholders:
- Updated climate projections, ensuring best available information to inform decision making
- Community preparedness, empowering communities with information and the resources to respond when disasters occur
- Protected shores, adapting shoreline infrastructure and habitats to withstand coastal floods and protect inland communities
- Resilient infrastructure, hardening critical services that ensure safety and well-being for Boston residents
- Adapted buildings, providing additional layers of resilience at the scale of individual homes and businesses
The strategy also maintained a strong focus on equity, ensuring that investment is prioritized for vulnerable communities most affected by the impacts of climate change. Following the recommendations provided in the citywide Climate Ready Boston plan, the team partnered with the city to tailor detailed strategies for areas like South Boston, Downtown and North End, and East Boston and Charlestown, recognizing each neighborhood’s character, population and unique risks. These strategies ranged from nature-based flood barriers and elevated evacuation corridors to innovative funding and financing strategies, all developed with a focus on implementation so that the plans could become reality.
The impact
Climate Ready Boston has already made a difference in the lives of residents. By engaging the citywide community in efforts to reduce flood risks, improve disaster preparedness, and promote a vibrant and resilient future, the City of Boston is better equipped to protect its people and businesses. Vulnerable communities, who often bear the brunt of climate impacts, now have a stronger voice in shaping their future.
Beyond safety, Boston is reaping economic and environmental rewards. Proactive planning minimizes potential losses from flooding and helps boost investor confidence in the city’s resilience. By incorporating nature-based solutions and sustainable infrastructure, Boston is building a future that also helps promote ecological restoration along the shoreline, supports improved water quality in Boston Harbor and surrounding estuaries, and mitigates key climate change drivers.
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The success of Climate Ready Boston lies in its legacy. By prioritizing people and creating strategies that balance bold vision with practical action, Boston has become a global model for proactive urban climate resilience. It’s a story of strategic leadership, community empowerment and commitment to continuous improvement—and a reminder that with the right plan, we can all secure a better future for our communities.