Climate Ready Boston

1. Climate Ready Boston:
Proactive Planning for
Future Climate Impacts

2. Challenge:
How to get Bostonians to
invest in flood control
before a disaster?

3. City was already engaged
in climate mitigation

4. Superstorm
Sandy

5. Lower Manhattan

6. Breezy Point

7. Boston’s Waterfront,
October 29, 2012

8. “If Sandy had peaked only
5½ hours earlier, we would
have had a ‘100-year flood’”
“Luck is not a good
planning strategy”

9. Key Lessons
• Don’t waste a crisis.
• Build on existing institutions and
policy initiatives.

10. Preparing For
The Rising Tide
• Released February 2013 with then-
Mayor Menino who vowed to act
before the next big one.
• Maps Boston’s vulnerability to
coastal flooding at future sea
levels.
• Provides case studies of
neighborhood-level vulnerability
assessments.

11. Today’s High
Tide + 2.5 ft.

12. Could flood
nearly 7% of
Boston
Current
100-Year
Flood
Annual
Flood
by 2050
Daily High
Tide by 2100
Today’s High
Tide + 5.0 ft.

13. Could Flood
Over 30%
of Boston
100-Year
Flood around
2050
Annual
Flood by
2100
Today’s High
Tide + 7.5 ft.

15. Key Lessons
• Today’s 100-year flood could be
2050’s annual flood and 2100’s
high tide.
• Identify vulnerabilities and how to
minimize risk of harm.
• We have time, but we have a lot to
do. We need to start soon.

25. Key Lessons
• Sea level rise is a real concern in
Boston.
• There are existing design
solutions.
• The results can be beautiful.

32. Key Lessons
• Many cities are successfully using
“Living with Water” beautiful, flood-
resilient designs.
• We don’t always have to keep
water out.
• Make every dollar count twice by
addressing other urban goals while
decreasing flood risks.

33. International Design
Competition

34. Boston Living With Water
Design Competition
• Launched at ABX
• Applied research to real places
• 50 entries by 342 participants from
seven countries
• Included multiple free forums
• Collaborative competition
• www.BostonLivingwithWater.org

35. Sandy Second Anniversary

36. Decision Maker Participation

37. Community Engagement

38. Learning by Doing

39. Infrastructure Planning

40. Sea Level Rise 101

41. Big Ideas Mashup

42. Awards and Publication

43. Key Lessons
• We need district-wide solutions.
• Involve community leaders early
in design.
• We will need both resilient and
resistant solutions.
• Now we need to institutionalize
what we’ve learned.

44. Next up: Climate
Ready Boston