City of Boston Outlines Four Goals to Guide Growth in Citywide Plan

The City of Boston announced four goals to guide the metropolis’ growth over the next few decades as part of Imagine Boston 2030—the first citywide plan in half a century—in a report published online last Thursday.

City officials determined the four goals—improving quality of life in Boston neighborhoods, fostering “inclusive” economic growth, adapting to challenges posed by climate change, and investing in new infrastructure—with feedback from Boston residents. Bostonians had previously participated in a citywide survey, launched last October and concluded this winter, asking how their lives should improve by 2030.

"This input is an important first step in the planning process because it shapes the conversation about how Boston can leverage its unprecedented growth to create an even better city," Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh said in a press release. "Our overarching goal is to make sure everyone who lives, works and plays in Boston benefits from this growth, while setting the course for future generations to grow inclusively and have access to opportunity."

Boston’s last attempt at a citywide plan came in 1965 when government officials outlined a 10-year blueprint intended to create the “New Boston,” a city transformed by parks, various urban renewal projects, and expressways. Though some of the 1965 plan’s proposals came to fruition, many did not—a recent Boston Globe article termed the plan “both prophetic and dead wrong.”

Now, Walsh said he hopes to institute a more successful citywide plan. Imagine Boston 2030, a two-year initiative slated for official release in the spring of 2017, aims to tackle issues—like heavy urban density, Bostonians’ unequal access to public transit and education, and a lack of affordable housing—raised by Boston’s recent, unprecedented population growth.

“Boston is a very successful, very dynamic metropolitan area [that] can also be quite fun... consequently, over the past 15 years there’s been a robust increase in demand for the city of Boston,” Economics professor Edward L. Glaeser said of the city’s recent population increase. Between 2011 and 2014 alone, Boston’s population grew by six percent, twice the national rate, according to data published online by the City of Boston.

Though lacking in specifics, last Thursday’s report included a brief discussion of potential next steps. Broadly, the City plans to construct new housing, establish various programs to increase employment, protect existing infrastructure from future damage due to environmental change, upgrade Boston’s transportation systems, and build new parks.

Glaeser expressed enthusiasm for the first of these plans, citing concerns over the affordability of Boston-area homes. According to Glaeser, the recent increase in demand for Boston housing has not been matched by a commensurate rise in supply, leading to a jump in prices.

“The only way to make sure that Boston doesn’t become a town affordable only for the wealthy is to make sure that Boston builds more,” Glaeser said. “What we really need is enough new housing so that anybody can come to Boston and rent an affordable apartment.”

—Staff writer Hannah Natanson can be reached at hannah.natanson@thecrimson.com. Follow her on Twitter@hannah_natanson.