Building Resilience in Boston: An Analysis of City Plans

This report highlights findings from a joint research project between Arizona State University and Texas A&M University funded by the National Science Foundation. The central goal of the Resilience Planning Networks project is to assess the degree of coordination of government agencies and stakeholders engaged in resilience planning and to examine the influence of coordination on the integration of flood mitigation across multiple plans. By combining surveys, social network analysis, and the latest techniques in plan evaluation, this study provides critical and timely information about the government structures and planning processes to address long-term risk of coastal flooding. The study focuses on four different coastal U.S. cities: Boston, Massachusetts; Baltimore, Maryland; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and Seattle, Washington.

This report presents key findings from the plan analysis component of the research project for Boston. This includes a plan quality evaluation for Boston’s network of plans, a scorecard of policies listed in the plans that would impact physical vulnerability to flooding, and an analysis of how the city’s network of plans is connected. The results reflect the content of existing city plans, and do not capture all ongoing resilience planning efforts in the cities.

本报告呈现了由国家科学基金会（National Science Foundation）资助、亚利桑那州立大学与德克萨斯农工大学联合开展的研究项目的核心发现。“韧性规划网络（Resilience Planning Networks）”项目的核心目标，是评估参与韧性规划的政府机构与利益相关方的协同程度，并考察协同行为对多规划体系中防洪减灾举措整合的影响。本研究结合问卷调研、社会网络分析以及前沿的规划评估技术，为应对海岸洪涝长期风险的政府架构与规划流程提供了关键且及时的参考信息。研究聚焦美国四座沿海城市：马萨诸塞州波士顿市、马里兰州巴尔的摩市、佛罗里达州劳德代尔堡市以及华盛顿州西雅图市。

本报告呈现了该研究项目中针对波士顿的规划分析模块的核心发现，具体包括波士顿规划网络的规划质量评估、规划中所列的影响洪涝物理易损性的政策评分卡，以及对该市规划网络联结情况的分析。本次研究结果仅反映现有城市规划的内容，并未涵盖该城市所有正在推进的韧性规划工作。