Boston 2030: How Urban Planning is Shaping the Future of Housing

Boston, as part of America's biggest and most vibrant cities, is at a crossroads as it struggles with extreme issues of rapid growth, unique population growth, high and rising house prices, and climate risk. These issues are reshaping the city's spatial structure and testing housing supplies. Consequently, the city developed "Imagine Boston 2030," or "Go Boston 2030," the first of its kind urban plan for Boston in over 50 years, to guide itself into an environmentally sustainable future while facing issues of growth, affordability, and equity.

This article will detail the history of Boston's housing crisis, planned ways to resolve the crisis in order to bring about better balanced housing, and most importantly, what could the "Imagine Boston 2030" mean to Bostonians.

Boston's Current Housing Crisis

Boston is currently facing a housing crisis that is getting worse day by day. Residential housing demands are increasing, but housing supply and construction are not matching its pace. Consequently, the residents have been struggling with affordability.

The median single-family home price has risen from $665,000 to $875,000 this year, showing a rise of 36.9% over the last two years.

Renters in Boston are spending at least 30% of their monthly income just to be able to afford a rental property. According to Zillow, a one-bedroom apartment costs $3,516/month, whereas the national average is $1,625/month. For renters, this means they have to make compromising choices between rent, bills, and other essentials.

The affordability crisis is hitting the communities like Roxbury, East Boston, Mattapan, and Dorchester the hardest, with median home value increasing by 111% during the last ten years. Long-time residents of the communities having working-class and immigrant origins are caught in a struggle between spiraling prices and rapidly accelerating gentrification.

The issue is compounded by single-family zoning and density controls, and slow and difficult approval and permit processes that keep too few new homes, particularly affordable housing, from being constructed.

Boston 2030 Housing Strategies: Affordability and Equity

Boston 2030 is the proposal that seeks to eliminate the issue of housing once and for all, with multiple strategies to contain high housing costs and possible displacement of the residents of the city, with justice and equality.

The Boston 2030 plan has shown that the city is constructing approximately 69,000 new housing units by the year 2030, increasing the city's stock of housing by 20%. Besides this, they are also expected to provide 16,000 new affordable houses (income-restricted houses), bringing the total to 70,000 new housing nationwide.

Imagine Boston 2030 is the blueprint on how not to push out long-time neighborhood residents with expanding and increasing city population. Neighborhoods with high concentrations of immigrant and working family populations, such as Roxbury, Dorchester, and East Boston, all with high neighborhood development and rising costs.

Imagination Boston 2030 is working to help protect from displacement with rent control protections, community land trust, storm and housing supports. In East Boston, new condos are being built as the City still remains committed to affordable housing. The goal is to maintain neighborhood diversity and openness with the new buildings.

The larger vision is to create more housing inventory and provide housing to everybody. The ideal is to not displace long-term residents from their neighborhoods as we provide more housing choices. City and State leaders, housing developers, nonprofit organizations, and community organizations must come together and dedicate themselves to creating solutions that benefit everyone equitably.

Boston’s Forward-thinking and Innovative Urban Planning

The City is adopting measures to meet its growing housing needs in a manner that promotes the city to become more inclusive.

The projects include:

Transit-oriented development: Providing additional housing near transit hubs to lessen car-dependence and allow increased access to jobs and services.

Zoning Reform: Zoning code allowing for multi-family units and more density in high opportunity neighborhoods.

Climate Change Adaptation and Sustainable Design: Supporting energy-efficient buildings, green infrastructure, and climate-resilient development.

Modular Construction Methods: Supporting quicker, cheaper modes of construction, such as modular building homes, to fill supply gaps.

Mixed-Use Development: Supporting integrated development of housing, commercial use, and public space to create complex, connected communities.

Community Engagement: Engaging almost 15,000 community members in planning processes, ensuring district plans are tailored to the needs of their neighbourhood.

People-centred Planning: Equity, Community, and Inclusion

Imagine Boston 2030 is not just development, it is about the people of the city. The plan puts equity and community first, advancing the growth of the city with a lens towards furthering the growth of neighbourhoods like Roxbury, Mattapan, and East Boston that have been overlooked.

The city is taking affirmative steps to work with residents through workshops, surveys, and meetings so that their voices and needs are brought to bear. That toolkit of tenant protection, community land trusts, and affordable housing ensures that long-time residents are not displaced.

The city is working closely with residents in workshops, surveys, and meetings to make sure that their voices and needs are heard. Tools like tenant protection, community land trusts, and affordable housing ensure that longtime residents are not pushed out. Boston is also improving park access, public transit, and services so that neighborhoods become more livable for all.

Real community power is what makes it special. Residents are playing an active role in shaping the future of their own neighbourhoods to ensure that new development will not only meet their needs, but will also not just be a profit-driven outcome.  Whether it be inclusive design to anti-displacement tools, Boston is being deliberate about ensuring that its growth will benefit all because a city in bloom should also ensure that all its people can flourish.

Boston's Vision for 2030: The Future

Boston's vision for 2030 is more than simply building new units; it is to create a better, greener, and more resilient city for all. Through the imaginative Boston 2030 plan, the Boston community is building a city where all residents can have safe, affordable, and climate-resilient neighborhoods, irrespective of income, race, or background.

As Boston faces the real threats of rising tides, heat waves, and severe storms, which are increasing in frequency, the city has invested heavily in climate-resilient infrastructure to serve the flood-prone areas of East Boston and the Seaport.

As the city wrestles with its housing crisis, Boston's public health and environmental equity approaches to energy-efficient, green buildings are making important contributions to emissions reduction and protecting public health. As well, and whilst Boston undertakes to make environmental improvements, it continues to be focused on making sure that these improvements are not done at the expense of displacement.

In addition to increasing the housing supply and undertaking environmental actions, Boston is following the 15-minute neighborhood model. The 15-minute neighborhood facilitates people's ease of access to schools, jobs, grocery stores, parks, and/or public transit options in a short walking or biking distance. This not only promotes low-carbon modes of transport, but also sustainability, and builds local social networks and indicators of quality of life.

In approaching 2030, and as it contemplates continuing to grow in equitable and thoughtful ways, Boston's plan outlines how a city can grow fairly and methodically. With the shared vision of inclusive growth, the city is working to ensure no one is left behind. If these initiatives succeed, Boston will become a more inclusive, affordable, and livable community for everyone who calls it home.