Next City, October 17, 2018: Boston wants to build inclusion into its construction boom
In the nearly 400-year history of Boston, the city is undergoing its largest recorded building boom. According to the Boston Planning and Development Agency, there have been roughly 50 million square feet constructed since 2014, with another 50 million square feet permitted by the city in that same timeframe.
In the midst of that growth, however, one big concern has emerged.
This month the city announced a new set of criteria to better promote diversity and inclusion, as well as prevent displacement, in Requests for Proposals released for public land within the city. All developers proposing to develop city-owned parcels must now include a “Diversity and Inclusion Plan,” aimed at creating increased opportunities for people of color and women in the fields of construction, design, development, financing, operations and ownership.
The initiative comes as city politicians have become increasingly vocal about the city’s inequality as it rapidly develops.
Inequality was an early priority for Mayor Marty Walsh, who released a comprehensive housing plan at the start of his mayoral tenure and set goals to develop more income-restricted housing as Boston’s population increases.
MP Boston set percentages in hiring people of color, employing women- and minority-owned businesses for construction, design and building operation, and borrowing from minority-owned banks.
Setting such goals meant the firm had to come to terms with the lack of diversity in the industry. In construction, MP Boston worked with an electrician union to better promote and expand its apprenticeship program in minority communities.
MP Boston’s efforts encouraged the planning department to set more specific goals for developers moving forward.
Golden notes that there are hundreds of city-owned parcels, varying in size, that will now require a diversity and inclusion plan under the new criteria. A number of those parcels are the result of Boston’s aggressive urban renewal policies starting in the 1950s. “By embedding the diversity and inclusion plan, we can develop these parcels in a way that benefits a whole lot of Bostonians who otherwise would be left behind,” he says.
“Will this policy get us to the promise land, a totally equitable society we seek?” Golden asks. “No, not this policy alone. But it’s a meaningful step in that direction.”
