HUMAN DEVELOPMENT OVERLAY DISTRICT (HD(HD-OD) IN CHINATOWN: BRINGING TOGETHER PEOPLE AND PLACE Statement of goals and objectives The Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC) and Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC) will develop one of four national pilot sites for a Human Development Overlay District (HD-OD), in Chinatown. The HD-OD is a new initiative intended to harness emerging information technologies to link social service infrastructure to physical infrastructure and planning processes. This project seeks to understand the potential benefits of providing social services, smallbusiness resources and housing assistance in a focused “human development district.” The objective is to help residents who are typically displaced by heavy d evelopment to plan for their future, and to preserve the character of local neighborhoods. The project will provide a new model for community development that could be applied around the country. This work is made possible through an award by the Environmental Simulation Center, a New York-based nonprofit linking cuttingedge technology with community planning, in partnership with the Ford Foundation.
Vulnerable populations in a rapidly changing community The HD-OD is premised on the idea that physical place and the people who live there are inextricably interrelated and must be planned for together. Families, individuals and small businesses are often unable to adapt to all the changes that take place in a neighborhood undergoing heavy development, whether physical, economic or social. In recent years, Chinatown’s land has increasingly become more desirable to developers because of its central Boston location and the efforts to revitalize the Theater District. From the Census 2000, there were 2,091 housing units in Chinatown. Since then 1,761 new housing units have been built or proposed, most of which has been market-rate and luxury priced. This trend has inflated real estate housing values in the area. In the past two years, six Chinatown housing developments have seen 10% to 200% rent increases. In addition to residential development, hundreds of hotel rooms have been built adjacent to Chinatown, with more being proposed. The cumulative impact of these new development pressures threatens the existing populationparticularly low-income residents, new immigrants, small businesses, un/underemployed, renters and potential homebuyers, and those with health concerns.
Integrating human capital, capital, and community planning through the innovative use of capital social capital, information rmation technology in a transitioning neighborhood info Recent advances in information technology, particularly decision support systems utilizing multiple data sources and virtual reality and 3D environments, represent an untapped resource that can enable service agencies to assist clients so that they can embrace the changes as opportunities for upward mobility. The project collaboration includes Asian American Civic Association, Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center, Boston Redevelopment Authority, 2010 Chinatown Master Planning Initiative, Chinatown Main Street, Jobs and
Community Services Department of the Mayor’s Office, and South Cove Community Health Center. We will coordinate services that will prevent displacement and/or mitigate negative impacts on financial stability, health and well-being for low- to moderate-income families and small businesses and track risk indicators and data related to neighborhood development. Creating a community baseline that highlights physical, demographic and socio-economic changes and their related impacts is crucial as Chinatown attempts to leverage upcoming development for the benefit of the entire community. Initially, the project will focus on a single “catalytic” development project. Parcel 24, LLC is a joint venture of ACDC and New Boston Fund, Inc. Parcel 24, LLC was designated by the MA Turnpike Authority to develop a mixed-income community on Central Artery Parcel 24 on the border of residential Chinatown. The proposed LEED Silver certified design for P24 features 325 units housing (with a targeted 50% affordable), open and commercial space. This project was selected due to its large scale and the level of community benefits it will yield.
Managing change change ACDC and project partners will open a Community Change Center (CCC) a central neighborhood site that connects each client to a continuum of human services that will stabilize their lives in the short-term and serve as a clearinghouse of information about the economic opportunities, jobs, and housing generated by local development to optimize their ability to plan for the future. Walk-in clients will receive assistance with their immediate needs, ranging from enrolling in an ESOL class to dealing with a housing emergency to filling out public assistance documents. Whatever the need, these interventions will be part of a long-term process that will address barriers to self-sufficiency and help them achieve economic and housing stability. Project staff members meet with social service agencies to understand their current data collection procedures and create an inventory of the indicators they already track. Then they compile data to produce a baseline community profile that will serve as the basis from which to define measures for change and success of the overall initiative. When the CCC begins intake, trained staff will do a needs assessment and record each client’s goals. CCC tools will help engage, monitor and assist in managing the trajectories of residents and small businesses, as well as development changes in the neighborhood. The CCC will track change over time, evaluate the performance of the interventions against the community’s households and small businesses’ self-defined objectives and produce an annual “report card.” The HD-OD objectives dovetail with the process for the Chinatown Master Plan 2010, a collaborative effort to update the Chinatown Master Plan 2000. The CMP 2000 served more as an agenda of community priorities than a specific implementation plan. The goal of the Master Plan 2010 initiative is to create an update plan to influence rapid development events and, through the process, unite the community to work for implementation of the plan. The HD-OD initiative shares many of these goals and involves a similar stakeholder base. The Asian Community Community Development Corporation (ACDC), a 21-year old community-based organization, is committed to high standards of performance and integrity in serving the Asian American community of Greater Boston, with an emphasis on preserving and revitalizing Boston's Chinatown. ACDC develops physical community assets, including affordable housing for rental and ownership; promotes economic development; fosters leadership development; builds capacity within the community and advocates on behalf of the community. The Metropolitan Area Planning Council was established as a state agency in 1963 and was made into an independent public body of the Commonwealth in 1971. The Council’s legislative mandate is to provide technical and professional resources to improve the physical, social and economic condition of its district, including the 101 cities and towns in the metropolitan Boston area. The Council enhances the quality of life and competitive advantage of the Boston metropolitan region in the global economy by providing a focus for action and developing sound responses to issues of regional significance. The Council offers research, studies, publications, facilitation and technical and professional assistance to these constituencies in the areas of land use and the environment, housing, transportation, water resources management, economic development, demographic and socioeconomic data, legislative policy and interlocal partnerships that strengthen the efficient and effective operation of local governments.