Boston Waterfront Initiative Goals

Barr aims to ensure that all people and neighborhoods of Boston enjoy and benefit from our city’s waterfront.

Initial investments have supported partners organizations conducting Harbor-wide planning, exploring opportunities for new and improved parks and design, and increasing resilience to climate change impacts. These efforts are ongoing. To complement them, Barr welcomed additional partners in December 2017, following an open request for proposals, with the goal of amplifying the perspectives of residents and communities most impacted by decisions about the Harbor.

Barr’s current mid-term objectives for its Boston Waterfront Initiative are to:

• Elevate engagement across Boston neighborhoods with waterfront opportunities and amplify the voices of those who are deeply affected by, but less often connected to, decisions about waterfront land use and development.
• Help stakeholders to think broadly and strategically about the Boston waterfront as a whole and to speak and act cohesively when appropriate, while also recognizing and honoring the unique neighborhood-level conditions and opportunities.
• Achieve progress on bold, climate-resilient parks developments along the waterfront.
• Increase accountability of decision-makers by keeping waterfront issues and opportunities front and center.