TRANSPORTATION

In that vein, we have a new practice area looking at the implications of emerging vehicle technologies such as self-driving cars on the region. At our fall Council Meeting in Quincy, we offered a speaking panel on innovative mobility, including electric and autonomous vehicles, and attendees were even able to test-drive all-electric and hybrid vehicles from several manufacturers, as well as a selection of e-bikes. More than 50 people participated in the “ride and drive” event, and a post-event survey showed 88% who test drove a vehicle said they would consider purchasing electric. At least one member of our staff, as well as her mother, actually did so!

Working with Transportation for Massachusetts (T4MA), we are also working to develop principles around data-sharing for autonomous vehicles to ensure policy goals are met, privacy is protected, and the state’s transportation network can be safely improved. MAPC recognizes the transformative benefits that autonomous vehicles can have for our state’s economy, environment, and quality of life, as well as the challenges that could result from disruption to existing forms of mobility. Autonomous vehicles will affect not only our transportation system, but also our economy, safety, workforce, environment, land use, and energy use. Learn more about our work in this arena at mapc.org/transportation.

In 2017, we launched a special study of the ridership habits of Uber and Lyft customers, and at year end we are crunching that data to determine what effects these companies are having (if any) on transit use—with the goal of helping both the MBTA and area communities to plan better for the transit and transportation needs of local residents and commuters. Look for more information on that research soon at mapc.org.

Parking planning remains an issue of critical importance to our communities. In December of 2017, Boston and the MBTA piloted an exclusive bus lane on Washington Street between Roslindale Square and Forest Hills, building on an earlier pilot project that utilized dedicated bus lanes on Broadway in Everett to alleviate traffic and speed up bus times. Both projects used an MAPC parking analysis to convert car spaces into a devoted bus lane. The Everett project was so popular with commuters across all modes that the model became permanent! At year end, Boston and the MBTA are considering starting a second, longer pilot in Roslindale with ongoing support from MAPC, to determine whether it’s feasible to make this dedicated bus lane a permanent change to ease congestion and commute times along the Washington Street corridor.

This year, MAPC has also begun working with several communities near Boston to explore no-cost, dockless bike share services. Several cities in our Inner Core, including Chelsea, Malden and Revere, underwent pilot programs to try these dock-free bike share systems in the fall of 2017; come spring of 2018, a regional program procured by MAPC will be rolling out across Greater Boston, giving more people in more communities access to low-cost bicycling opportunities. Dockless bike share systems offer bicycles with self-locking mechanisms that unlock with a mobile app. Rather than relying on docking stations, these bikes can be parked on the sidewalk, at bike racks, or in almost any publicly-accessible place, where the next user can pick it up, typically paying about one dollar per ride. MAPC, through a regional RFP being offered at the end of 2017, will help to create a boundary-less, regional system with multiple bike share companies that local governments can join at low or no cost, launching just in time for warmer weather.

In partnership with DHCD and Massachusetts APA, MAPC has offered a series of workshops on parking benefit districts, or PBDs, this year. A PBD is a specific geography in which parking revenue is raised then invested back into that same district, for transportation improvements. We are formulating case studies and best practices now with the goal of helping more communities adopt these districts in the years ahead.

DATA SERVICES

The Research working group in our Data Services Department this year released a major study on housing, examining the effect that new permits have on subsequent school enrollment. The full report, available at mapc.org/enrollment, shows concerns about new housing overburdening public schools are largely unfounded. Most school districts in Massachusetts have seen a steady decline in student enrollment over the last 15 years, according to the report, and rates of housing production are having no significant effect on public school enrollment growth. MAPC examined housing permit and enrollment trends across 234 public school districts over the past six years, from 2010 through 2016; we found that, while high rates of growth have become more common in urban communities, most suburbs saw declines in enrollment, and the dozen fastest-growing areas in terms of housing production saw enrollment growth of only 1% on average. Even in communities where substantial housing production took place, the growth in households and children was not sufficient to offset the over-arching, natural demographic decline in school-age residents, as Baby Boomers age and younger generations have fewer children, later in life.

Housing Production and School Enrollment

Data sources: Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, Census Building Permit Survey

Other new areas of research this year included an update to our Regional Indicators program, a set of measures that quantify our progress as a region toward achieving the goals of MetroFuture. MetroFuture, MAPC’s long-range vision for a more sustainable and equitable Metro Boston in the year 2030, includes goals that were established through community input and a collaborative stakeholder engagement process. By measuring our progress, we can identify where action or intervention are needed, and find opportunities for collaboration. Visit the full Indicators website at regionalindicators.org to explore and crunch our findings.

Our new, and growing, Digital Services shop is the first in-house digital team housed within a regional planning agency in the nation. This innovative working group supports MAPC departments and municipal partners by designing and building digital tools to conduct more effective, efficient, and equitable planning and governance, with an open, equitable, and data-driven approach and a focus on products that can have direct application in decision-making processes. This year, the team launched a youth jobs platform in partnership with the City of Boston that aimed to design a more accessible youth employment system for the city. The result, an open source Youth Jobs Platform, has already had measurable impact on Boston’s youth employment experience, connecting more students to summer jobs and contributing to better lifelong outcomes for each youth involved.

The team also launched a Local Energy Action Dashboard, LEAD, that allows communities to download local energy data and compare to neighbors with the goal of reducing emissions and increasing efficiency. Visit the tool at lead.mapc.org. Digital Services will also be working to update several tools in 2018, including the MassBuilds site which explores real estate development across Massachusetts at massbuilds.com, our TrailMap resource, trailmap.mapc.org, and the “Keep Cool” app which connects users to free, publicly-accessible cooling spots during the hottest parts of the year. Learn more and download for summer 2018 at keepcool.mapc.org!

CLIMATE

The disciplines of clean energy and environmental planning are evolving every day as we as a region work to adapt to a changing climate, and aim to help our cities and towns plan for and mitigate those effects. This year, we performed climate vulnerability assessments and action plans for Braintree, Brookline and Newton, and we provided technical assistance and outreach through our Neponset and MAGIC subregion stormwater partnerships, which work to promote climate resiliency and to educate communities about new water regulations. Through a new grant awarded by the New England Aquarium and funded by NOAA, our Communications and Community Engagement divisions are working with Chelsea, Lynn and Hull to develop education programming for youth around climate change. This exciting project hopes to develop a new model of youth-focused partnerships to enhance climate literacy and community involvement in these issues, especially in areas that are racially diverse and have historically been underserved. To learn more about our climate work, visit mapc.org/our-work/expertise/climate.

With guidance from MAPC, seven communities in our region—Chelsea, Melrose, Cambridge, Boston, Winthrop, Natick, and Somerville—received an enhanced level of “solar readiness” this year that merited them the distinction of being “Solsmart communities.” This national designation aims to reduce solar’s soft costs by providing technical assistance to communities; to achieve it, cities and towns must complete best practice in several areas, such as zoning, inspections, permitting and community outreach. We are also participating in the Mass Clean Energy Center’s Solar Thermal Challenge, which will explore ways to bring solar hot water systems to Massachusetts residents; look for a pilot program for MAPC-region communities starting in 2018.

Our Energy, Transportation and Municipal Services departments have teamed to offer a Green Mobility Purchasing Program this year, allowing advanced vehicle and hybrid conversion technology on the statewide procurement contract. This contract will help municipalities to green their fleet of municipal vehicles and reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the region.

Staff from Digital Services worked with students from Harvard’s Graduate School of Design and staff from NOAH, the Neighborhood of Affordable Housing, to create a multimedia public outreach campaign on climate resilience in East Boston this year. Combining traditional print media and an interactive website, the project helped the area’s residents prepare for and cope with major storms, intense flooding and hot summers.

In November 2017, we hosted the “Let’s Get Climate Smart” event with the Trust for Public Land (TPL) in Cambridge. This event publicly launched and demonstrated a new online green infrastructure decision-support tool for the 14 cities and towns of the Metro Mayors Coalition, developed in a two-year partnership among MAPC and TPL staff. The tool allows users to identify optimal locations for nature-based solutions such as trees and rain gardens for mitigating heat and flooding.

In Boston, the City Council voted in late 2017 to make the city the newest and largest community in Massachusetts to authorize green municipal aggregation, which intentionally incorporates more renewable energy within a community’s electricity supply, generally at levels above 40 percent more than required by state law. More than 18 cities and towns in the MAPC region have authorized such programs or are actively implementing them with help from our energy staff! Learn more about municipal aggregation and our other clean energy work at mapc.org/our-work/expertise/clean-energy/green-municipal-aggregation.