Boston Goes Global

In 1965, Boston City Hall drafted a new city plan that was fully released in 1967. It was largely the work of Mayor John F. Collins, who was in office from 1960-68. He became mayor of a city in fiscal crisis, with property taxes in Boston almost double that of New York and Chicago. Mayor Collins emphasized urban planning and his administration oversaw the construction of the Prudential Center complex and Government Center.

Half a century later, Mayor Martin J. Walsh is introducing the first city plan since Mayor Collins’ time in office.

Beginning the project under a campaign called “Imagine Boston 2030,” Mayor Walsh and his team started in 2015. They interviewed 12,000 residents and posed 5,000 questions to understand what priorities Bostonians had and what they wanted to see implemented in their city by 2030—Boston’s 400th birthday. The final plan will be solidified and adopted by Summer 2017.

In addition to the auspicious fact that it’s been 50 years since a city plan has been released, Boston is pivoting itself towards the future for another reason: a grasp at global. According to a May 2016 Boston.com article, Boston ranked third “for the Global Cities Outlook study” and was “part of the Global Cities 2016 report.” This means that the report and study place Boston as one of the cities poised to become a global city.

According to Saskia Sassen, a professor of Sociology at the University of Chicago, who wrote the book The Global City: Introducing a Concept, a global city produces significant contributions that affect the globalized economy.

James C. O’Connell, Ph.D., is a Community Planner at the Boston Office of the Northeast Region of the National Park Service and an adjunct professor in the City Planning and Urban Affairs department at the Boston University Metropolitan College.

Dr. O’Connell argued that, in many respects, Boston could already be considered a global city.

“Boston is the biotech capital of the world,” he said. As an education hub, “Boston is one of the great places in America bringing in foreign students,” investors and inventors. Global cities play into the global economy. Boston contributes to that global economy through its students and investors.

According to the opening pages of the new city plan, “Boston is uniquely positioned to guide growth and shape a thriving city for the next generation.” In his introduction, Mayor Walsh reaffirmed the “right now” momentum of a new plan.

“Boston is at a unique point in our history,” he wrote. “Our population is growing and becoming more diverse. Our economy is robust and dynamic. We are rapidly changing the ways in which we interact with the city, and people, around us.”

Boston is already a hub of education. According to the 2015 Boston Redevelopment Authority, the city is home to over 30 colleges and universities with an average of 137,000 students at these institutions. As a nexus of education and technology, Boston has an advantage towards achieving global city status.

The effort to increase Boston’s appeal and elevate it to levels similar to New York and San Francisco started on a micro-level. Government Center, after undergoing a major revamp, is now the site of “Boston Seasons.” The year-round initiative aimed to revitalize the City Hall plaza by turning it into a multipurpose venue. The first stage was Boston “Winter,” an ice-skating rink cum winter wonderland marketplace, similar to New York City’s Bryant Park “Winter Village.”

The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy utilized its 15 acres of greenspace strung throughout the city for art expositions. In 2016, it hosted Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s bronze sculpture set “Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads.” In 2017, the Conservancy introduced Chicagobased artist Matthew Hoffman’s artwork “MAY THIS NEVER END” and New American Public Art’s interactive “Color Commons” installation. All art was designed and chosen to increase the interaction between the city and its residents.

The plan identified areas for development. Some spots, like Sullivan Square and the Beacon Yards in Allston, are places with little “significant historical development,” according to O’Connell. That method avoids impacting historical integrity, which is heavier in places like the South End, a designated Landmark District.

A large part of Walsh’s plan includes affordable housing. According to the first draft of the new city plan, Boston’s projected population by 2030 could be as high as 724,000. The current population hovers around 656,000 with an increase of 6 percent between 2010 and 2014. As a part of the plan, and in conjunction with the Department of Neighborhood Development, Walsh intends to add 53,000 units of new housing by 2030 to combat rising housing prices.

Those 53,000 units also support residents to be “economically dynamic” because they increase the amount of people able to live in, and therefore contribute to, Boston, according to O’Connell. The plan gets specific in its housing breakdowns: 44,000 units for the workforce; 5,000 units for senior citizens; and 4,000 units to “stabilize the market and bring rents and housing prices under control,” according to data provided by an article from the governmental website titled “Housing A Changing City: Boston 2030.”

The plan had a focus on climate change adaption, estimating that by the 2070s more than “$80 billion of property value” would be exposed to flooding. To combat the rising tides as the fourth most susceptible city to flooding in America, the city plans describes its response as “proactive climate planning.”

In the “Retrofitting Boston Buildings for Flooding: Potential Strategies” report, planning includes preparation for a “100-Year Flood.” A 100-Year Flood is a “flood with a 1 percent annual chance of occurring or being exceeded,” and for Boston is “at least five feet of flooding above the average high tide.” With rising tides due to global warming, a 100-Year Flood had a 1 percent annual chance of occurring in 2000, but could have a 20 percent annual chance of occurring in 2050. It could become “as frequent as the twice-daily high tide by 2100,” according to the report. The report aimed to elucidate the ways that existing buildings could be “retrofitted” to prepare for potential high-flooding. Some possibilities were backup generators, renewable energy systems and enhancing buildings’ foundations to withstand flood trauma.

“One of the main adaptations for new construction is buildings without basements,” said Hillary Waite (CAS ’17), a student studying environmental analysis and policy, “where the electrical work is higher in the building in anticipation of flooding.”

Another goal is to decrease greenhouse gas emissions by half to achieve a goal of 80 percent emission reduction by 2050. That goal of emissions reduction is “mitigation as opposed to adaptation,” said Waite, “but it is legislated and planned.”

The city plan appeared ambitious but in actuality tied together projects already being undertaken in Boston. “Boston is trying to shape and channel private activity,” said O’Connell, by “enhancing existing development” and “activating places that are already good.” The idea of the plan is not to start from scratch but plays off the current situations.

“13 years is a good time frame, because if you’re working 20-30 years out, who knows where you’re going to be?” said O’Connell.

BY DANNY MCCARTHY | PHOTOGRAPHY BY ASHLEY GRIFFIN | DESIGN BY LUDI WANG