Over the past several years, many high-profile events – most notably Hurricane Sandy in 2012 – demonstrated how vulnerable the urban Northeast corridor is to weather and climate extremes. These recent events and future climate projections have helped foster awareness among decision-makers and scientists that much more work is needed to plan for climate change impacts on the diverse and interconnected communities and infrastructure systems characterizing the region.
Cities and medium and smaller sized communities throughout the urban Northeast have pioneered efforts to plan and implement a variety of adaptation strategies to enhance climate resilience, with many contributions from the CCRUN team.
GreenRoots
Location: Chelsea, Massachusetts
Website: www.greenrootschelsea.org
Project Title: Mitigating the Impacts of Heat Islands through Community-led, Nature-based Solutions
Project Description: Funding from the Consortium for Climate Risk in the Urban Northeast will help advance community resilience and improve environmental justice areas of concern through the following heat mitigation and air quality improvement strategies: 1. Greater green and open space: GreenRoots is transforming a vacant, urban parcel, 212 Congress Ave, into an urban oasis with trees, plantings, shade structures and hydration stations. Pre- and post- monitoring of the heat index and surveying with neighborhood residents of personal perception of heat will determine the use and benefits of this demonstration project. 2. Resident Engagement: GreenRoots staff will conduct multilingual community outreach to connect residents in heat-vulnerable neighborhoods to cooling solutions (ongoing). Engagement includes: door knocking, flyering, stand-outs in public areas, social media, other online strategies and in-person events in the vacant parcel. 3. Implement Cool Block Strategies: Collaborate with BSLA, BU School of Public Health and City of Chelsea on installation of Cool Block strategies including painting white roofs, temporary art and data visualizations, cooling structures and possible water features at 212 Congress.