Using our basis in the built environment for comprehensive sustainability:
What is that? Resilience? How do these things fit together?
I am part of the City of Boston's Resilience Collaborative, working for Dr. Atyia Martin to assess the state of resilience for the community and to explore how to improve community resilience. Not just armoring the seaport or improving drainage systems, but looking at people. How to help people, families, neighborhoods and communities be more resilient. How to prepare for shocks to the system.
In a major way, a lot of Boston and certainly surrounding communities are already at risk, in precarious economic situations. The crisis of 2008 is still echoing and many families are indeed "under water" in regards to their homes and other assets.
The City is working on a resilience plan for these aspects, and connecting the Imagine Boston 2030 planning process to Climate Ready Boston and the City's housing plan. What can our community of practitioners do to support greater resilience in our communities? Not just hardscape, but people-to-people? How does social structure interact with infrastructure? I hope you will stay with us and explore this. There is work to be done!
Thank you, Champions of Sustainability: your commitment to our fundamental interests in sustainability and a just future are what power this movement.
And there is much on the horizon: the
Road to Greenbuild
beckons. Are you going to
LA in October? Let me know. Are you interested in supporting
Greenbuild in Boston in 2017
? Let me know.
Definitely save
9/22/16
for our
Green Building Showcase at 888 Boylston St, in Boston
. Also we have our
Healthy Materials Summit
in late October and in later November, the
ABX
show. We have a lot of great educational sessions there. It will be great to see at one of these events!
Thank you for helping us to drive sustainable and regenerative design, construction and operation of buildings and communities in Massachusetts - and beyond!