Thursday, October 30, 2014, 11:34am
Boston will host a regional summit to help prepare Greater Boston for the impacts of climate change, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh announced yesterday on the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Sandy.
“There is no issue more urgent than climate action. When we work together, the steps we take do more than protect us: they can bring us closer together, they can create good jobs, they can improve our health, our public space, and our civic life,” Walsh said in a statement. “I look forward to working closely with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), the Metro Mayor’s Coalition, and the commonwealth on this critical issue.”
The half-day summit, which will be held at the University of Massachusetts Boston next spring, will establish a mechanism for coordination of regional, cross-government action going forward. It will include regional and state agencies such as MassPort, MassDOT and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), as well as mayors from the MAPC’s Metro Mayor’s Coalition. The coalition includes Boston, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Malden, Melrose, Medford, Quincy, Revere, Somerville, Brookline, Winthrop and Braintree.
The announcement was made at the Architecture Boston Expo 2014, hosted by the Boston Society of Architects (BSA), and coincided with the kickoff of the international design competition, Boston Living with Water. The competition asks teams to submit design solutions to sea-level rise for three sites in the city, which are located in the North End, Fort Point Channel, and Morrissey Boulevard. It will conclude in the spring, with a first place prize of $20,000.
Boston Living with Water is led by the Boston Redevelopment Authority, the mayor’s Office of Environment, Energy and Open Space, the BSA and the Boston Harbor Association. It is funded through a grant from the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management and the Barr Foundation.
“The impacts of climate change do not respect municipal boundaries,” Marc Draisen, executive director of the MAPC, said in a statement. “It’s incredibly important that all of the cities and towns in Greater Boston work together to address issues like sea level rise, coastal flooding, and rising temperatures. Cooperation and planning are the keys to success.”