1. General information
Location and description of the intervention
City or FUA
Boston
Region
Northern America
Native title of the NBS intervention
Waterfront Initiative, Boston
Short description of the intervention
The Barr Foundation started the cross-cutting program called Waterfront Initiative to support the sustainable planning and accessibility of the waterfront area while also increasing residents awareness and environmental stewardship of the waterfront. The Waterfront Initiative initially supported organizations in harbour planning, designing waterfront parks, and climate resilience efforts along the Boston waterfront. In 2018, it has also strengthened its focus on social equity and public engagement across more vulnerable neighbourhoods around waterfront issues (1,2)
Address

Boston
United States

Location
The NBS is a city-wide initiative, the GIS point marks the centre of the city
Type of area before implementation of the NBS
Other
Please specify “other type of area” before implementation of the NBS
harbour
Website of the intervention
https://www.barrfoundation.org/strategies/boston-waterfront-initiative-goals
Timeline of intervention
Start date of the intervention (planning process)
2016
Start date of intervention (implementation process)
2016
End date of the intervention
ongoing
Present stage of the intervention
Ongoing
Goals of the intervention
"- Complement public and private waterfront planning efforts in the Boston harbour area (1)
- Support local stakeholder organisations working for increased accessibility of the waterfront area for all and increased sense of environmental stewardship in residents for the waterfront (1)
- Support the sustainable development of the area with a special focus on resiliency and adaptation to climate change-related disasters such as coastal storms and flooding (1)
- Encourage the participation of community-based organisations and affected residents group in the decision-making process regarding the waterfront development who were previously excluded from the conversation (1)
- Increase the accountability and transparency of decision-making on waterfront development issues (1)
- Explore opportunities for new and improved parks and design at the waterfront (2)
Quantitative targets
Unknown
Monitoring indicators defined
Unknown
Sustainability challenge(s) addressed
Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
Climate change adaptation
Coastal resilience and marine protection (SDG 14)
Coastal protection / hazard mitigation
Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
Green space creation and/or management
Inclusive and effective governance (SDG 16)
Inclusive governance
Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
Social cohesion
Social justice and equity
Cultural heritage and cultural diversity
Protection of historic and cultural landscape/infrastructure
Promotion of cultural diversity
Climate change adaptation: What were the goals of the NBS?
Reduce the impacts of climate risks events on urban places and communities
Build resilience
Climate change adaptation: What activities are implemented to realize the conservation goals and targets?
Restore wetlands and/or coastal ecosystems to dissipate the effects of flooding and/or storms
Renaturalization of rivers and other water bodies
Implementation activities
"Example activities from the granted organisations:
- Organisation of a series of community-based collaborative art experiences centred around Boston Harbor - Artists for Humanity (1)
- Creation of a greenway to facilitate access to the waterfront in Charlestown district that lacks such a gateway to the waterfront - Mystic River Watershed Association (1)
- Preparation of a shared waterfront vision with other grantee organisation to advance the waterfront planning process - Trustees of Reservations (1)
- Preparation of the vision and feasibility phase of the waterfront planning process - Boston Redevelopment Authority (1)"
Type of NBS project
Creation of new green areas
Coastal landscape management or protection
Knowledge creation and awareness raising
Strategy, plan or policy development
NBS domain and interventions
Ecological domain(s) where the NBS intervention(s) is/are implemented
Blue infrastructure
Coastlines
Amenities offered by the NBS
Unknown
Services
Expected ecosystem services delivered
Regulating services
Coastal protection
Cultural services
Inspiration for culture, art and design
Recreation
Social and community interactions
Scale
Spatial scale
Micro-scale: District/neighbourhood level
Beneficiaries
Primary Beneficiaries
Local government/Municipality
Non-government organisation/Civil Society
Citizens or community groups
Marginalized groups
Marginalized groups
Socio-economically disadvantaged populations (e.g. low-income households, unemployed)
Governance
Governance arrangements
Led by non-government actors
Non-government actors
Other
Please specify other non-government actors involved
Private Foundation
Please specify the roles of the specific government and non-government actor groups involved in the initiative
"The Barr Foundation is governed by a five-member board of trustees and employs 29 full-time staff members. The Barr Foundation founded funds and operates the Waterfront Initiative. One staff member runs the Waterfront Initiative, along with Barr’s other special cross-cutting initiatives" (1 p18). Each of the funded organisations and initiatives is governed individually, according to the given organisation's guidelines and policy.
Key actors - initiating organization
Private foundation/trust
Land owners
Other
Key actors - Other stakeholders involved (besides initiating actors)
Local government/municipality
Non-government organisation/civil society
Private foundation/trust
Citizens or community group
District/neighbourhood association
Please specify other participatory methods
The Waterfront Initiative of the Barr Foundation provides financial grants to non-governmental organisations, neighbourhood associations and community groups. The participatory methods and the type of community involvement differs from the grantee organisations (1)
Land owners
Other
Please specify other land owner
The Barr Foundation has been supporting various organisations and initiatives located in different parts of the waterfront area. (1)
Participatory methods/forms of community involvement used
Other
Please specify other landowner
The Barr Foundation has been supporting various organisations and initiatives located in different parts of the waterfront area. (1)
Policy drivers
NBS intervention implemented in response to an Regional Directive/Strategy
No
NBS intervention implemented in response to a national regulations/strategy/plan
No
NBS intervention implemented in response to a local regulation/strategy/plan
Yes
Please specify the "local regulation/strategy/plan"
The state law called Massachusetts General Law Chapter 91 has been created in 1866 to protect and promote the public’s right to the waterfront. This Massachusetts Public Waterfront Act states that all waterfront (re)development should serve a public purpose. (1, 3)
Mandatory or voluntary intervention
Voluntary (spontaneous)
Please specify other type of voluntary intervention
It is a voluntary objective of the Barr Foundation is to ensure that all people and neighborhoods of Boston enjoy and benefit from our city’s waterfront.
Enablers
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS vision/strategy/plan - mentioned in connection to the project
No
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS section/part in a more general plan - mentioned in connection to the project
No
Presence of city network or regional partnerships focused on NBS - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify
The Waterfront Initiative grantees has formed a network called Boston Waterfront Partners. With regular meetings the grantees share knowledge and information sharing and form alliances. Some members of the network also started joint initiatives as a result of their connection in the network. (1,4)
Presence of GI / NBS research project - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Subsidies/investment for GI / NBS in the city - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify
The Waterfront Initiative in itself is a grant scheme supporting community-based and nonprofit partners in their efforts to make the Boston waterfront more accessible for all (1,4)
Co-finance for NBS
Unknown
Co-financing governance arrangements
Unknown
Was this co-governance arrangement already in place, or was it set up specifically for this NBS?
Not applicable
Financing
Total cost
Not applicable
What is/was the Cost/Budget (EUR) of the NBS or green infrastructure elements?
Not applicable
What are the total amount of expected annual maintenance costs?
Not applicable
What is the expected annual maintenance costs of the NBS or GI elements?
Not applicable
Please specify cost savings
Not applicable
Please specify total cost (EUR)
As of December 2019 , the Barr Foundation's Waterfront Initiative has awarded over $15,000,000 (approximately 12,450,000 EUR). (3)
Source(s) of funding
Private Foundation/Trust
Type of fund(s) used
Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
Non-financial contribution
Unknown
Business models
None of these
Which of the involved actors was motivated by this model?
Private non-for-profit actor (e.g. NGO, foundation)
Type of innovation
Unknown
Novelty level of the innovation
Unknown
Please specify novelty level of the innovation
Unknown
Replicability/Transferability
Unknown
Please specify Replicability/Transferability
Unknown
Impacts, benefits
Environmental impacts
Climate change
Increased protection against sea level rise
Water management and blue areas
Increased protection against flooding
Green space and habitat
Promotion of naturalistic styles of landscape design for urban development
Increased green space area
Description of environmental benefits
"The success of the Waterfront Initiative could be measured once grantee organisations report their progress. Until then only expected impacts can be listed:
- Increased green open space in the Boston Waterfront area
- Protection of the surrounding neighbourhoods from coastal and inland flooding" (5)
Economic impacts
Unknown
Description of economic benefits
Unknown
Social and cultural impacts
Social justice and cohesion
Improved social cohesion
Improved liveability
Increased visibility and opportunity for marginalised groups or indigenous peoples
Increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces
Health and wellbeing
Gain in activities for recreation and exercise
Description of social and cultural benefits
- The grantees of the Waterfront Initiative created a widespread network of community-led organisations with regular meetings. The grantees share best practices, know-how and start new collaborations (1)
- Creation of new green recreational spaces and improvement of existing ones available for the greater public including marginalised groups (5)
- Increased public engagement in the development of the Boston Waterfront through creating a shared vision for the green spaces and overall connectivity of the area. (5)
Type of reported impacts
Expected impacts
Indicators
Unknown
Analysis of specific impact categories
Job creation: The NBS created ...
No information available
Negative impacts: Did the project cause any problems or concerns?
No information was found regarding negative impacts of the project
COVID-19 pandemic
Unknown
Methods of impact monitoring
Process of recording NBS impacts
No evidence in public records
Methods used to evaluate the impacts of NBS
Not applicable
Evidence for use of assessment
Presence of an assessment, evaluation and/or monitoring process
Unknown
Presence of indicators used in reporting
No evidence in public records
Presence of monitoring/evaluation reports
No evidence in public records
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
Impact assessment mechanism
Name of any specific impact assessment tools
Unknown
Use of GIS in mapping impacts
No evidence in public records
Citizen involvement
Citizens involvement in assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Citizens involvement in the analysis of the assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Follow-up to the evaluation / assessment
Unknown
References
List of references
1) Kim, E., 2018, NATURVATION - Case Study Working Paper: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
2) Barr Foundation, (n.a.), Boston Waterfront Initiative Goals, Accessed on 28th February, 2021, https://www.barrfoundation.org/strategies/boston-waterfront-initiative-goals
3) Barr Foundation, (n.a.), Creating a Boston Waterfront for All, Accessed on 28th February, 2021, https://www.barrfoundation.org/special-initiatives/boston-waterfront
4) Boston Waterfront Partners, (n.a.), Who We Are, Accessed on 28th February, 2021, https://bostonwaterfrontpartners.org/who-we-are/
5) Boston Waterfront Partners, (n.a.), Our Work, Accessed on 28th February, 2021, https://bostonwaterfrontpartners.org/projects/#harborwalk
Comments and notes
Public Images
Waterfront Initiative, Boston
Source: https://www.facebook.com/ArtistsForHumanity/
Waterfront Initiative, Boston
Source: https://www.bostonharborwalk.org
Waterfront Initiative, Boston
Source: https://www.facebook.com/ArtistsForHumanity/