Moakley Park: Addressing Critical Climate Resiliency Issues

Energy and sustainability, Essay, Middle Density, Stoss Landscape Urbanism, Territory and mobility, Urban Paradigms

Accessibility, Affordable Housing, Amenities, Boston, City Plan, Climate change, Climate resilience, Community, Connections, Designing Strategies, Ecological infrastructure, Ecological urbanism, Equity, Innovation, Leisure, Multifunctional space, Open Space, Park, Project, Resilient cities, Sea Level Rise, Smart city, Stormwater Management, Temperature, Transformation, USA, Waterfront, Wetlands

Moakley Park, a 60-acre community park in South Boston, floods regularly; even minimal rain events cause the playing fields to become unusable and unsafe. Coupled with the fact that Boston’s largest waterfront park sits at a critical breach point for South Boston and with a projected 21-36” in sea level rise, the park becomes a major flood pathway inundating adjacent neighborhoods, including two low-income housing developments. With this reality in mind, City of Boston Parks and Recreation Department and the Environment Department commissioned a vision plan for the park that would not only address critical climate resiliency issues, but would turn Moakley Park into an exemplary 21st-century open space with a focus on equity, diversity, community and of course enviable recreational amenities.