City of Boston: Hazard Mitigation Plan Update

Siler Climate Consulting is partnering with Weston & Sampson to update the City of Boston’s Hazard Mitigation Plan (HMP). Hazard Mitigation Plans assess vulnerability and risk based on natural hazards and identify mitigation strategies to address the findings of the vulnerability assessment.

Traditionally, HMPs focus solely on a technical view of hazards where risk is understood by geo-spatial analysis of exposure and sensitivity to hazards. This technical work alone makes assumptions about what is valuable based on who holds power in the design of the vulnerability assessments, but then is presented as neutral data. This HMP will take a more holistic view of assessing risk and vulnerability but working alongside the essential elements of the assessment to include a social equity centered view of risk. This social perspective on hazard risk allows us to realize that risk is a function of what matters and to whom. Siler Climate Consulting will work to engage marginalized community members in Boston to develop a technically rigorous and values-based assessment to risk. Our team will then work to weave community feedback into the development of mitigation strategies that lead to project outcomes.