Our Sustainable Cities Division
The health of the physical environmental in our cities is closely connected to the physical, social, and mental well-being of urban residents. Through the Sustainable Cities Division's programs, UEI and community-based partners work together to strengthen our urban communities by transforming vacant lots into community green spaces, increasing urban tree canopy cover and creating urban watershed restoration plans. Follow these links or scroll down for an introducation to our program areas:
City Roots
CityRoots is an innovative, community-driven approach to urban sustainability that provides residents of Greater Boston's diverse neighborhoods the opportunity to address the environmental issues facing their communities through hands-on ecological restoration projects. Through this process, CityRoots takes advantage of the fact that making the neighborhood greener is a prime community-building opportunity for Boston’s urban residents.
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Yards to Oasis
In collaboration with the Department of Neighborhood development, UEI is helping Boston homeowners turn their yards into well-landscaped showcases. Residents attend workshops in which they are prepared to apply for grants towards landscaping supplies and services, design their own oasis, and receive training on maintaining their own transformed urban space.
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Neighborhood Sustainability Projects
In partnership with Trust for Public Land, UEI is building a coalition of NGO's, community-based groups and government agency staff to create a collaborative, city-wide process for community transformation of vacant lots into parks and open spaces. The vision for this effort is to create a collaborative, resident-informed process for determining the future of the City's remaining vacant land.
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Urban Tree Canopy
Trees are vital to the health of a neighborhood and its community members. Not only do trees lower temperatures by providing shade, they have also proven to cut the rates of asthma and other repertory diseases by removing air pollutants. They sequester carbon, and have a dramatic effect on absorbing storm water runoff. Urban Forests are also known to dramatically reduce the Urban Heat Island effect. On a household level, one large shade tree can reduce air conditioning cost by 30% and reduce heating cost by 10-25% by blocking wind.
Trees have also shown to have dramatic effects on the neighborhoods they are planted in through their capacity to help foster a sense of community by creating attractive and engaging meeting places. Community based tree planting projects can engage residents and promote further community improvement. The Greater Boston Urban Forest Inventory (GBUFI) is the first GIS cataloging of every street trees and canopy cover in Boston. Spearheaded by UEI and overseen by Boston's Urban Forest Coalition Greater Boston Urban Forest Inventory uses remote sensing data combined with on-the-ground street tree surveys to provide a complete and detailed understanding of the condition and location of Boston's urban forest.
Learn More About Greater Boston's Urban Forest Coalition
Learn More About Grow Boston Greener
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Urban Long Term Research Areas
ULTRA (Urban Long Term Research Areas) is an initiative led by the U.S. Forest Service, to promote environmental health and community well-being in our cities through research, education and outreach. Boston is one of nine lead cities involved in this interdisciplinary network of university researchers, municipalities, decision-makers, NGOs and community members. UEI is coordinating the Boston-based committee, and is a leading partner in the development of the network.
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